Mandate Debate

Frank-Walter Steinmeier has entered the debate over the future of Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan. The foreign minister said he wants to see the number of troops increased, a view which differs from many others in his Social Democratic Party.

This fall, the German government will decide whether to extend the mandates for some 3,500 German peacekeeping troops taking part in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and with the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom. Most German troops have been stationed in the relatively stable northern part of the country.

The parliament will also discuss whether to keep its six Tornado warplanes, which are flying reconnaissance missions throughout Afghanistan, stationed in the Afghanistan. Both the jets and Bundeswehr troops on the ground are prohibited from participating in combat missions.

Training crucial

Numerous German politicians have called for pulling back on support for the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan, which has been criticized for causing a high number of civilian casualties.

While Steinmeier said he didn't oppose rethinking Germany's OEF involvement, he added that even if Germany pulls back from that mission, there needs to be more training of the Afghan army and more help with civilian reconstruction.

"During the course of the summer, we're going to have to discuss strengthening Germany's engagement with the training of the Afghan army," Steinmeier said in an interview published in Der Spiegel magazine. "Any reduction in our engagement would be in principle very difficult to explain, no matter what individual aspect would be affected."

Steinmeier also said he'd discuss the issue with Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung. A Social Democrat, Steinmeier will likely get support from his coalition partners in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Chancellor and CDU party head Angela Merkel has said she doesn't want to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan, and some CDU lawmakers have called for increasing the number of Bundeswehr soldiers stationed there.

Disagreement over mandate

But members of Steinmeier's party have been more skeptical about the call for more troops. Some want the number of forces reduced while others have called for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The German presence in Afghanistan is seen as making the country more of a terrorist target. Recent polls show nearly two-thirds of Germans want troops pulled out of the country. More than 20 German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

Hajo Funke, a political scientist at the Free University in Berlin, said Germans feel the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse. There's also the feeling that the United States and NATO don't have a clear strategy. NATO has approximately 40,000 ISAF troops in the country.

"The military strategy seems to be doing no good," Funke told Reuters news agency. "The whole strategy appears trapped. This is the perception in the German public."