Berlin - Germany is to increase its aid to Afghanistan's embattled and underpaid police by 3 million euros (4 million dollars), the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said Tuesday.

The money is to be given to the UN-backed Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA) to pay pensions to police killed on duty and to provide better shelters at
1,000 police checkpoints around the country.

The ministry said raising remuneration and better facilities were important to improving police motivation.

Germany, which has a key responsibility for improving Afghanistan's police force, appropriated 10 million euros last month for Afghan police salaries.

Berlin's efforts to establish a proper police force in Afghanistan were scorned last month by a German army general as a "failure," with "far too little" being spent to help the Afghan police.

In an unprecedentedly blunt speech, Hans-Christoph Ammon, who heads the army's commando section, said the aid was so feeble that at the current pace it would take 82 years to establish "a reasonable force." (dpa)