Berlin to keep troops in Afghanistan after NATO withdrawal

German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere told the Bild am Sonntag paper in an interview that troops remaining would concentrate on the training of Afghan forces, the minister said.They would be sufficiently armed so as to be able to defend themselves but it wont be about having troops for combat, said De Maiziere.Berlin currently has 5,350 soldiers in Afghanistan, a number which will reduce to 4,900 as Germany starts withdrawing its forces ahead of NATOs 2014 deadline for the transferral of security control to Afghan forces.After the US and Britain, German soldiers are the third largest NATO troop contingent in Afghanistan.The decade-long war was the first major deployment of German troops abroad since the Second World War and has not been welcomed by a majority of public opinion.