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...for people that won't fight. 
Nice of them to watch our backs though.
BERLIN - Germany's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to keep 3,000 troops and six reconnaissance jets in Afghanistan for another year despite mounting public skepticism about the mission.
The vote in the 613-seat Bundestag - 454-79 with 48 abstentions - was the final step needed to extend the mission.
It came after Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed hard for renewal of the legislative mandate for participation in NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.
The Netherlands and Canada face a similar decision in the coming months.
The Dutch government is expected to decide this fall whether to extend its mission that is currently due to end next summer. About 1,700 Dutch troops are in Afghanistan.
The mandate for Canada's mission expires in February 2009.
The Canadian government has indicated it has until next April to tell NATO whether there will be an extension. Opposition parties in Canada are against an extension; the New Democratic party wants Canadian troops withdrawn even sooner.
On Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the establishment of a five-member panel to examine the future role of Canada in Afghanistan.
ISAF has about 37,000 troops in Afghanistan but only Canada, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have taken on combat roles in the violent southern regions, where the Taliban insurgency is most active and deeply rooted.
Canada has about 2,300 troops in Kandahar province as part of its overall commitment of 2,500 to ISAF. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
In contrast, most of the 2,800 German ground troops are in the quieter north of the country. Germany has resisted any suggestion they should take part in the heavier fighting in the south.
Officials and legislators from Merkel's governing coalition of conservative Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats argued that a pullout would open the door for Taliban and Al-Qaida to once again use Afghanistan as a base for terrorism - and endanger years of progress in rebuilding the country.
Social Democratic legislator Gert Weissenkirchen said a German refusal could lead to abandonment of Afghanistan by other western countries.
"Afghanistan would again fall into the hands of the Taliban," he said. "Therefore I ask you to think it over carefully. A No vote would lead to giving terrorism a chance to further establish itself, to insult people, to repress women. We want to put an end to that and so we need extension of the ISAF mandate."
Under German law, any foreign deployment must be approved by parliament.
Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a left-wing Social Democrat, said troops were needed to support rebuilding of the school system and give Afghan children - including girls who were banned from schools by the Taliban regime ousted in 2001 - the chance to get an education.
"This is real development that we are moving forward with," Wieczorek-Zeul said.
"Seventy per cent of the population is under 25 and we want, through building up of the educational system and above all through elementary education, to give children and youth - and especially girls - the chance to go to school."
Public opinion polls recently indicate most Germans want the troops to come home following attacks on their forces and kidnappings of their citizens in Afghanistan. Members of the environmentalist Greens and the Left party - former East German communist and disgruntled Social Democrats - also opposed the extension.
Merkel, who did not speak during the debate, has argued forcefully for staying the course, saying Germany must not "leave Afghanistan in the hands of the terrorists."
The all-weather Tornado jets from the Luftwaffe's Tactical Reconnaissance Wing 51 "Immelmann," supported by 280 personnel, are based near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
The German air force says the jets can provide faster, farther-ranging photographic information to assist security forces on the ground than can pilotless drones.
Another vote will be held later this fall on a mandate on Germany's participation in the U.S.-led anti-terror Operation Enduring Freedom. Germany participation has consisted of anti-terrorist ship patrols off the Horn of Africa.
The vote in the 613-seat Bundestag - 454-79 with 48 abstentions - was the final step needed to extend the mission.
It came after Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed hard for renewal of the legislative mandate for participation in NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.
The Netherlands and Canada face a similar decision in the coming months.
The Dutch government is expected to decide this fall whether to extend its mission that is currently due to end next summer. About 1,700 Dutch troops are in Afghanistan.
The mandate for Canada's mission expires in February 2009.
The Canadian government has indicated it has until next April to tell NATO whether there will be an extension. Opposition parties in Canada are against an extension; the New Democratic party wants Canadian troops withdrawn even sooner.
On Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the establishment of a five-member panel to examine the future role of Canada in Afghanistan.
ISAF has about 37,000 troops in Afghanistan but only Canada, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have taken on combat roles in the violent southern regions, where the Taliban insurgency is most active and deeply rooted.
Canada has about 2,300 troops in Kandahar province as part of its overall commitment of 2,500 to ISAF. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
In contrast, most of the 2,800 German ground troops are in the quieter north of the country. Germany has resisted any suggestion they should take part in the heavier fighting in the south.
Officials and legislators from Merkel's governing coalition of conservative Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats argued that a pullout would open the door for Taliban and Al-Qaida to once again use Afghanistan as a base for terrorism - and endanger years of progress in rebuilding the country.
Social Democratic legislator Gert Weissenkirchen said a German refusal could lead to abandonment of Afghanistan by other western countries.
"Afghanistan would again fall into the hands of the Taliban," he said. "Therefore I ask you to think it over carefully. A No vote would lead to giving terrorism a chance to further establish itself, to insult people, to repress women. We want to put an end to that and so we need extension of the ISAF mandate."
Under German law, any foreign deployment must be approved by parliament.
Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a left-wing Social Democrat, said troops were needed to support rebuilding of the school system and give Afghan children - including girls who were banned from schools by the Taliban regime ousted in 2001 - the chance to get an education.
"This is real development that we are moving forward with," Wieczorek-Zeul said.
"Seventy per cent of the population is under 25 and we want, through building up of the educational system and above all through elementary education, to give children and youth - and especially girls - the chance to go to school."
Public opinion polls recently indicate most Germans want the troops to come home following attacks on their forces and kidnappings of their citizens in Afghanistan. Members of the environmentalist Greens and the Left party - former East German communist and disgruntled Social Democrats - also opposed the extension.
Merkel, who did not speak during the debate, has argued forcefully for staying the course, saying Germany must not "leave Afghanistan in the hands of the terrorists."
The all-weather Tornado jets from the Luftwaffe's Tactical Reconnaissance Wing 51 "Immelmann," supported by 280 personnel, are based near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
The German air force says the jets can provide faster, farther-ranging photographic information to assist security forces on the ground than can pilotless drones.
Another vote will be held later this fall on a mandate on Germany's participation in the U.S.-led anti-terror Operation Enduring Freedom. Germany participation has consisted of anti-terrorist ship patrols off the Horn of Africa.
Nice of them to watch our backs though.
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