BERLIN, June 22 (AFP) - The German army next month plans to deploy the first all-German reconstruction unit in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Peter Struck said.
The unit, to be based in the northern town of Faizabad, will be the second so-called "provincial reconstruction team," or PRT, under German leadership, and the first Germany will have undertaken without international partners.
"We will first do this alone, hoping that other countries will join us later with other smaller contingents," Struck said in an interview published Tuesday in the daily Leipziger Volkszeitung.
Germany already runs a PRT in Kunduz staffed by 270 peacekeeping troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and some 30 civilians.
The 14 other PRTs in Afghanistan are all composed of soldiers from the US-led coalition.
The new German unit will be staffed by 85 soldiers in September, and reinforced with an additional 60 soldiers for national elections on October 8, Foreign Office Minister of State, Kerstin Mueller, said upon returning from Afghanistan Tuesday.
Unlike the PRT in nearby Kunduz, the one in Faizabad will not protect German-funded reconstruction projects because the minister of cooperation refused to send civilian personnel due to budget constraints.
But there are existing civilian projects that the unit can protect, Mueller said, adding that she thought the military-civilian role of the PRTs was well received by local inhabitants.
The German-led PRT in Kunduz, she said, "has broken the viscous circle of insufficient security and the lack of progress in reconstruction." She also said that the October elections "were not in danger," in her opinion.
But other observers doubt whether the still-evolving PRT units will improve security sufficiently for smooth elections.
Fifty-four aid agencies signed a letter to NATO in June saying the teams "have neither the capacity nor the mandate to confront the countrywide security threats now facing the Afghan people".
Germany has 2000 soldiers in ISAF, its largest military force outside of Germany.
Most PRTs are in the troubled south and southeast where Afghan and foreign troops are fighting a guerrilla insurgency.
PRTs focus on reconstruction and development and cooperate with Afghan militia forces. They build schools, wells and irrigation systems.
In the north, the teams are more focused on rebuilding the security sector -- re-training police, building courthouses and customs houses -- and assisting with the disarmament process.
The teams have distanced themselves from the often corrupt local commanders and have gathered valuable information on the security situation which could be critical for the government's plan to disarm tens of thousands of militiamen.