Germany's centre-right coalition voted on Friday to extend the country's unpopular Afghan deployment by a year, but for the first time the mandate proposes a date for starting troop withdrawals. Germany hopes to begin pulling troops out of from the end of 2011. Berlin has set no deadline for a complete withdrawal, and has said it will provide support after 2014, by which time Nato hopes to end the combat role of foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the mission was necessary to protect Germany from the threat of terrorism. "However, the key point is that we cannot allow this deployment to last indefinitely," Westerwelle said. A poll published by broadcaster ZDF on Friday showed that 59 percent of respondents were opposed to Germany's deployment in Afghanistan, with only 37 percent supporting it.
The German military mission in Afghanistan began under the former centre-left administration of Social Democrat (SPD) chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The extension, which was backed by most of the SPD, nevertheless showed that parliamentary support was waning.
In total, 419 members of parliament voted for the mandate to be extended, down from 446 for the 2010 mission. There were 116 votes against, up from 105 before. A total of 312 votes are needed for a majority in the Bundestag lower house. Four members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives voted against the extension, according to preliminary results.
Gregor Gysi, parliamentary leader of the opposition Left Party, said Germany's continuing deployment in Afghanistan would only make the country less safe from terror attacks. "You can't fight terrorism with the highest form of terrorism, that is, war," Gysi told the Bundestag. Germany currently has around 4,900 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. Some 45 German soldiers have died there since 2002.
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