German Defense Minister arrives in Afghanistan

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere arrived in northern Afghanistan Monday on a visit to the German military headquarters in Mazar-e Sharif. The official did not make the usual stop in Uzbekistan where until now it was normal for ministers to fly on in a Transall military transport plane equipped with anti-rocket defenses. “That is also a sign of the better security here in the north,” the minister said in a report by German Press Agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). According to DPA, only 3 percent of attacks carried out by Taliban and other militants take place in areas where the German forces are present. A suicide bomber last month killed more than 40 people at a mosque in the town of Meimane.