BERLIN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The German government is considering whether to send more troops to Afghanistan after three German police officers were killed this week in a bomb attack near the Afghan capital Kabul, an official said Friday.

    German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler told the Berliner Zeitung daily that the government "is considering whether to increase the number of troops deployed in Afghanistan."

    The country currently has a 3,000-strong force in the relatively stable northern region of Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The mission is expected to come up for renewal by parliament in October.

    Erler said that the government needs to know whether the current German troops could provide enough assistance for the training of the Afghanistan security forces or whether the training should expand from the north to the south.

    "We need to signal a message that we will never give up Afghanistan to the Taliban," Erler said in reference to Wednesday's roadside bomb attack on a convoy of the German Embassy.

    Early in the month, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for "extending our assistance in training and equipping the Afghan army" amid a debate following the abduction of two German engineers in Afghanistan on July 18.

    Ruprecht Polenz, head of the German parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke out against calls for more Western troopsto be sent to Afghanistan, insisting on a larger role by Afghan forces.

    On Friday, Erler admitted that the government has yet to do more to convince the German people of the troop deployment in Afghanistan.