BRUSSELS (The News) - Germany plans to send six Tornado jets to southern Afghanistan, probably for reconnaissance duties in the insurgency-hit region, a former German defence minister said Friday.

"The German foreign minister will present the offer for six Tornados on January 26 at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers" in Brussels, said ex-minister Peter Struck.

A final decision on the move is unlikely before the end of the month, as it remains unclear whether the German parliament would have to endorse a new mandate for the planes.

Struck, on a visit to Brussels, told reporters that it might be possible to send the fighter-bombers for two or three months but that a deployment of seven months, for example, "would surely not be covered by the current mandate."

A German government spokesman said only "no decision has been taken".

NATO officials acknowledged that they were aware of a possible offer from Germany, and Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he would welcome such a move. "If the German government would announce, or has announced, the deployment of Tornado aircraft in a reconnaissance role to Afghanistan, I would highly welcome such a decision," he told reporters.

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