Germany currently has around 4,300 troops in Afghanistan, the third-largest contributor to a 110,000-strong international force after the United States and Britain.

The Bundestag lower house voted 445 deputies out of 594 in favour of the motion, which will ensure that German troops stay in the strife-wracked country until at least December 2010.

The extension was signed off by the newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet on November 18.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that alliance members would send at least 5,000 troops to back the new US surge of 30,000 extra soldiers announced by President Barack Obama this week.

Announcing the new surge, Obama vowed to "seize the initiative" to end the conflict and start a pullout in July 2011, nearly 10 years since Western troops forced the Taliban out of Kabul.

According to French officials, the United States has asked Germany to provide 2,000 more troops, France and Italy 1,500 each and Britain 1,000.

A handful of media reports in recent weeks have said that Merkel's government was already considering an increase of around this size.

Britain currently has about 9,500 troops in the international force, France 3,300 and Italy 2,800.

Britain has promised to send another 500 troops and Italy said Thursday it is ready to send 1,000 troop reinforcements in 2010.

Germany and France have both said they will wait until a London conference on Afghanistan on January 28 to decide on further action.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle reiterated this position in parliament on Thursday, adding that the UN get-together in the British capital would not be a "troop-raising conference."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner promised Paris would consider its stance in the run-up to the conference, but suggested any extras would be civilians, police or technicians.

Karl Lamers, a defence expert with Merkel's Christian Democrats, said Thursday that the fresh mandate could be altered at a later date if necessary.

"If there is a new situation after the Afghanistan conference, a new political assessment after the talks in London about goals and expectations of the Afghan government and the allies, then we will adjust the mandate accordingly," he told public broadcaster Deutschlandradio.

Berlin stresses that stabilising Afghanistan will not be achieved through military means alone, and is keen to do more to train the Afghan police.

Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the German daily Handelsblatt Thursday that he had understanding for Merkel's position.

Germany's troops are based in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan, but the security situation there has worsened in recent months. Since the start of the mission 36 German soldiers have died.

Polls have suggested that the mission is opposed by a majority of voters.

Germany's top general resigned last week, followed by the former defence minister, over the handling of an air strike on September 4 ordered by a German commander in which dozens of civilians are believed to have died.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the new defence minister, said in parliament on Thursday that he believed the strike was "objectively seen, militarily inappropriate."

He added however that "subjectively, in a situation comparable to a war... the officer (who ordered the strike) believed he had done what he considered to be appropriate" and clearly only aimed to "protect his soldiers".

US not seeking Afghanistan civil coordinator: Rice
United Nations (AFP) Dec 2, 2009 - The United States is not seeking a civilian coordinator for Afghanistan, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday, apparently contradicting the State Department.

"This is not an American proposal," Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters at the United Nations about the alleged plans to appoint an official tasked with helping Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government improve the country's security and economy.

While acknowledging the urgent need for improved coordination between the military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan, Rice insisted that "we are not advocating, at this stage, the appointment of a high representative."

Her comments came a day after the US State Department said the United States both favored the idea and was seeking support from NATO allies.

"It's a way for us to better support the efforts of Afghanistan to provide for its own security and... provide a better economic future for the Afghan people," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

Kelly said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would discuss the coordinator's role during a meeting in Brussels on Friday with fellow foreign ministers from the transatlantic military alliance and other countries involved in the mission to stabilize Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Rice appeared to step away from that position, though she acknowledged that "there needs to be improvement and urgently so in the coordination of the civilian component of this mission and the civilian assistance resources."

But the ambassador said that task fell under the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

"We may take actions with our partners in NATO and ISAF (the alliance's International Security Assistance Force) to strengthen UNAMA's ability to do that," Rice said.

The British newspaper Guardian reported on Monday that the policy was an attempt to circumvent Karzai, who has been plagued by charges of corruption and tarnished by widespread fraud in elections that eventually returned him to power.

Kelly insisted the role of any coordinator would not be "in any way an attempt to... undercut or bypass... the Afghan government."

He also denied the Guardian's report that the post was the brainchild of Richard Holbrooke, the US representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying he was unaware of who was behind the idea.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, said "it's fair to say there's momentum building behind" appointing a coordinator.

Officially, the international community already has such an envoy in Norwegian Kai Eide, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative to Afghanistan and the head of UNAMA.

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