Kabul - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived Wednesday in Kabul on a surprise visit during which he is to meet with President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spantar. Steinmeier's trip, his fourth to Afghanistan since taking office at the end of 2007, was kept secret until after his arrival for security reasons.

Chancellor Angela Merkel visited German troops stationed in the north of the country three weeks ago but did not meet with Afghan leaders.

Berlin  - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggested in a parliamentary debate Friday that the United States should remove its arsenal of nuclear weapons from German soil.

"If we wish Europe to be made into a nuclear-free zone, that would also apply to the nuclear weapons still left in Germany," he told the Bundestag lower chamber in Berlin during a debate on disarmament.

Berlin  - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned Thursday two suicide bombings in Iraq which killed at least 87 people in separate attacks.

"I fiercely condemn these underhand attacks," Steinmeier said. "Our deepest sympathy goes to the families of the numerous victims, and we wish the many injured a speedy and complete recovery," the foreign minister added.

Berlin  - An elderly German woman who was taken hostage by Islamists three months ago in Mali was released Wednesday evening, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin.

The 77-year-old retired teacher was one of four western tourists abducted on January 22 during a cross-country adventure tour in four- wheel-drive vehicles in Niger and Mali.

Berlin  - Responding to US President Barack Obama's ambitious plans for a non-nuclear world, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called Sunday for the first disarmament moves this year.

In remarks reported by the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag, he said, "Nuclear weapons and their unchecked proliferation are a major threat to us all.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier phoned his Afghan counterpart Saturday to voice concern at a new marriage law applying to Afghanistan's Shiite Muslim minority.

The German Foreign Ministry said Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta replied that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had suspended the gazetting of the law and ordered a legal review of it.

Critics say the law legalizes rape within marriage, because a Shiite woman would not be allowed to refuse her husband sex without a valid reason.