Berlin - Germany is to double the scale of some of its police training activities in Afghanistan, officials in Berlin said Wednesday after a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet.

Up to 120 German police personnel would be available to serve with EUPOL Afghanistan, the European Union training mission. At the moment, 44 Germans, chosen from a "pool" of 60 available German police, serve with EUPOL.

The Berlin foreign and interior ministries said Germany's own direct aid scheme for the Afghanistan police would also expand.

A German training school for police would open next month in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. Germany would have 40 to 50 regular police advisers in Afghanistan at any one time, as well as 45 military police seconded to training work. (dpa)