Merkel Pledges Support to Afghan President-Elect

German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered support on security and economic development to Afghanistan in a phone call Tuesday congratulating its new president-elect Ashraf Ghani, her spokesman said.

Merkel said it was now important to strengthen Afghanistan's stability and its economy and further boost the country's democratic and constitutional development, he said.

"Germany is ready to carry on supporting Afghanistan in this, both in the field of security and also in the areas of the economy and development cooperation," Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

Merkel also invited Ghani to visit Germany, he added.

Ghani and his former rival Abdullah Abdullah struck an agreement Sunday to form a "unity government", after months of disputes over who was the rightful winner of the fraud-tainted June 14 presidential election.

Germany has been the third-largest contributor of troops to NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, behind the United States and Britain.