The majority of Afghanis have always had a special connection to Germany, said Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who spent more than 20 years in exile in Germany before becoming the foreign minister of Afghanistan this year.

Strengthening existing ties was a priority of German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier's three-day visit to Afghanistan this week.

After paying a visit to the 2,800 German soldiers stationed in the northern part of the country, Steinmeier joined Deutsche Welle Director Erik Bettermann, Radio Television Afghanistan Director Najib Roshan and Spanta in Kabul for the opening of a new television studio.

The studio will allow state-run Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) to produce international broadcasts themselves, instead of borrowing material from DW-TV in Berlin.

Parliament considers extending mission

"I expect Germany to continue working with us," said Spanta. "We need constructive criticism to see where we make mistakes. We have obligations to the international community, particularly concerning human and women's rights and we hope that Germany stays involved in all of these issues."

RTA Director Roshan said many Afghanis fear that international interest and German attention could increasingly be diverted to the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

"I want to demonstrate with my visit here that Afghanistan doesn't have to feel abandoned, even if public attention is now focused on other regions," responded Foreign Minister Steinmeier. "I hope that this will become apparent in the coming months with Germany's concrete Afghanistan policies."

A parliamentary debate on continuing Germany's military action in the Middle Eastern country has been set for October. The presence of German troops in the mountain region of Hindukush has been and is still important, said Steinmeier, who has said the German engagement should be extended despite instability in the region.

"I believe that, all in all, we can look back at four successful years of German involvement in the Kunduz region. Establishing and maintaining security is still one of the central issues," said Steinmeier.

Police work crucial to security and stability

The foreign minister visited the police academy in Kabul during his first Afghanistan visit to take a closer look at security in the country. Steinmeier praised the quality of work he observed at the academy, where both Afghan officials and German police are active.

Police training takes place not only at the academy in Kabul but also in so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT), whose task is to strengthen the influence of the central government in the north-eastern provinces.

PRTs work together with regional security forces and authorities to maintain the stability necessary for non-governmental aid organizations to work effectively toward reconstruction and development.

Aid in education, agriculture and media

"The German personnel have always sought to build a bridge to the people and that is only possible when we also demonstrate engagement in other areas," said Steinmeier.

He mentioned German involvement in establishing girls' schools, agricultural projects and the joint media project between Deutsche Welle and Afghan television.

Deutsche Welle provided the technical equipment and know-how for the new television studio and trained the Afghan producers.

The media in Afghanistan has opened up and developed in the past several years, said Foreign Minister Spanta. There are now more than 200 independent newspapers and magazines. Of the 40 radio and television broadcasters, only one is state-run.

"President Karsai and the government are doing their best to establish more diverse, colorful and democratic media. But we are confronted with a series of challenges and hindrances," said Spanta. "To overcome them all, we need time and a more democratic culture that handle conflict. That is not a state of being, but a slowly developing process."