Germans' support for Afghan war collapses

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg toured German military headquarters in Mazar-i-Sharif before heading to Kunduz, where German troops mistakenly shot dead six Afghan soldiers on April 2 following a guerilla ambush in which three Bundeswehr personnel were killed.

Berlin's military intervention in the impoverished country is deeply unpopular among German voters.

Stern magazine has published a Forsa poll which found that 62 per cent of the 1,004 people surveyed want the troops withdrawn.

That is a considerable jump from September 2005, when only 34 per cent of those polled by Forsa said the Bundeswehr soldiers should pull out.

Washington is increasingly concerned over declining support in Europe for the war.

Last month a memorandum apparently drafted by CIA spooks was posted to the Wikileaks Web site.

The document, marked "confidential/not for foreign eyes," noted that "the fall of the Dutch government over its troop commitment to Afghanistan demonstrates the fragility of European support for the Nato-led ISAF mission."

It goes on to say that "some Nato states, notably France and Germany, have counted on public apathy about Afghanistan to increase their contributions to the mission, but indifference might turn into active hostility if spring and summer fighting results in an upsurge in military or Afghan civilian casualties."

Talking up "Germany's exposure to terrorism, opium, and refugees might help to make the war more salient to sceptics," the document suggests.