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German President Horst Koehler today announced that he is resigning immediately, following criticism of remarks he made about the deployment of the German troops in other nations.
In his speech, Koehler had linked the deployment of the German forces in places such as Afghanistan with the defense of economic interests.
His remarks were slammed by a number of German politicians. The 67-year-old former International Monetary Fund was re-elected last year to serve a second five-year term as president. Koehler made remarks in an interview after returning from a brief visit to Afghanistan earlier this month.
Koehler noted that Germany, which is an export-oriented country, needs to deploy troops abroad "to protect our interests... for example free trade routes". Announcing his resignation on Monday, he said "it was an honour for me to serve
He, however, regretted making the controversial remarks saying it could lead to a misunderstanding about a difficult question for the nation. Social Democratic Party leader Jens Boehrnsen, speaker of the parliament's upper house (Bundesrat), will be interim president.
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