Germans want troops out of Afghanistan-and their government ignores them

Tom Mellen in The Morning Star reports:

Germany's defence minister visited the 4,500-strong Bundeswehr contingent in Afghanistan as a new poll indicated that almost two out of three Germans want its military brought home.

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Stern magazine has published a Forsa poll which found that 62 per cent of the 1,004 people surveyed want the troops withdrawn.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

Well, Washington certainly has no grounds for concern in the forthcoming General Election in One-Party Britain. All three of our main parties- including the 'progressive' Lib Dems, support continued British involvement in this costly and unwinnable war.

Lorna Fitzsimons was right- in Britain, foreign policy is an ‘elite’ issue. What ordinary people want doesn’t come in to it. Sadly, it seems that's the case in Germany too.