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Consulate attack won't alter Berlin's attitude toward assisting Afghanistan: Official

Friday, 11 November 2016 2:37 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 11 November 2016 6:50 PM ]

A member of Afghan security personnel walks along damaged buildings as he inspects the site of a bomb attack targeting the German consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh province, November 11, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Germany has said a recent attack on its consulate in Afghanistan will not alter the necessity of Berlin’s commitment to extending "assistance" to the war-tattered country.

"I cannot imagine that the events of last night will lead to a fundamental change in Germany's thinking or that of the global community on the need for continued assistance for Afghanistan," Martin Schaefer, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, said on Friday.

Schaefer said efforts by Germany and other countries had helped make the lives of Afghans better over the past years.

The German official said a crisis task force had met late Thursday and again Friday to assess the situation after the assault.

At least six people were killed and more than a hundred injured in a car bomb attack on the German consulate building in the provincial capital city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the northern province of Balkh late on Thursday.

The German crisis task force discussed the future of Germany's work in Afghanistan as well as ways to avert similar attacks in the future.

Consulate staff had been moved to the headquarters of the German military on the edge of the city and were already able to continue its work there, the German official said.

The Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the "revenge attack," which it said was in response to US airstrikes that left 32 civilians dead in Kunduz province earlier this month.