But members of Prime Minister Angela Merkel's ruling coalition will have their work cut out to convince public opinion which is overwhelmingly opposed to sending soldiers to fight abroad.

The respected Spiegel magazine reported that the government was considering asking parliament to approve the deployment of 1,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, and to extend the mandate of their mission from the current 12 to 15 or 18 months.

Parliament in October voted to renew the German mission in Afghanistan for a year, but capped the number of troops there at 3,500.

The leader of Merkel's parliamentary faction, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, told AFP however that talk of boosting military numbers and expanding the German footprint in Afghanistan originated with parliament.

A spokesman for the defence ministry, Thomas Raabe, told AFP Saturday that "talks would be held on whether it was militarily worth increasing the force" when the matter of extending the mandate was next discussed.

German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung, speaking at an international security conference in Munich Saturday, declined to comment on the reports, while adding that there was no question of changing the present mandate.

He also acknowledged that "there's a certain sensitivity among our population because of our history" over sending fighting forces abroad.

The government, he said, needs to make clear to the public the goals of NATO's intervention in Afghanistan "in order to get broader support for our operations" there.

Extending the mandate for deployment would also help prevent Afghanistan from becoming a contentious issue in next year's general elections, Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Merkel's party, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier backed the idea.

Political parties "would do well to find a way, as early as possible, to avoid having the mandate debate come up during the election campaign," he told Focus magazine.

The sending of reinforcements, not only to the north of the country where German forces are currently based, but also to areas further west -- Baghdis province according to one newspaper -- would kill two birds with one stone.

It would defuse current tensions between Berlin and Washington while allowing Germany to keep its forces away from southern Afghanistan where much of the fighting against the Taliban has been taking place.

France on Friday also suggested it might send extra soldiers to help the Canadians in southern Afghanistan. France was expected to announce its own move in early April at the NATO summit in Bucharest.

German public opinion is overwhelmingly opposed to sending combat troops to southern Afghanistan and most political parties, remembering World War II, have strong reservations about allowing its troops to engage in offensive operations.

According to an opinion poll due to be published in Monday's edition of the magazine Focus, 84 percent of Germans oppose sending combat troops to the south.

And 63 percent believe the current deployment in northern Afghanistan does not serve German interests, according to the TNS Emnid poll.

Germany, whose troop level deployment in Afghanistan currently stands at about 3,200, earlier this week announced it would take over responsibility from Norway in July for a quick reaction force in the north of the country.

Jung said the force would be made up of some 200 German combat soldiers.

NATO and the United States have been calling not only for reinforcements in Afghanistan, but also for their freer use around the country.

"We need a maximum of flexibility in the use of our forces and as few caveats as possible" regarding their deployment, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the security conference here.

But he sought to play down divisions over the mission, saying "there have been very many positive developments in Afghanistan."

"We are not on the brink of losing," he added.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was to address the conference on Sunday, said Friday he would seek to convince reluctant Europeans of the need to send reinforcements to fight the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
News From Across The Stans

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News