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Terror fight force boosted

Chancellor Schroeder received backing for German troops to be deployed

BERLIN, Germany -- Germany and The Netherlands have committed forces to the international fight against terrorism.

The Dutch government is to send six F-16 jets and 200 soldiers to Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The jet fighters will be under the command of the United States, assisting in its "Enduring Freedom" military campaign, while the troops will join a peacekeeping force, ministry spokesman Bart Jochems told Reuters.

The jets would provide air support and would not be involved in bombing missions.

The Dutch troops would be under the command of a battalion from Germany, where the parliament also approved on Saturday the deployment of up to 1,200 troops for the peacekeeping force.

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The U.N. Security Council authorised last week a multinational force to keep the peace in Kabul for six months, with Britain initially leading and the United States prepared to rescue troops in an emergency.

German opposition deputies joined most members of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's governing coalition in passing the measure.

The German lower-house members backed the six-month deployment proposed by Schroeder.

Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping said the first Germans would likely be sent between the Christmas holidays and the New Year.

Schroeder received the broad support he had asked for, a contrast with a wrenching debate inside his government that preceded the separate commitment of German troops for the war on terrorism. "We are deciding in a situation where peace in Afghanistan really has moved closer," he said in a speech opening Saturday's session.

"After everything we've discussed concerning the force's mandate, I believe everyone here can justify a 'yes' vote."

Several members of the Greens, Schroeder's junior partner, abstained on the ballot, while the former East German communists, the smallest parliamentary group, voted solidly against sending German troops.

Schroeder, whose center-left government nearly collapsed before approving German troops for the anti-terror war, made plain to lawmakers Saturday that Germany could not stand aside in the protection force.

He said German conditions had been met because the international troops will have a mandate allowing them to use force, they will operate only in Kabul and its immediate surroundings, and because the mission was limited to six months.