Most Germans back Afghan pullout

A recent survey shows some 70% of the German population backs the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, as Berlin struggles to win support for the unpopular war.

The opinion poll conducted by independent research institute Infratest dimap also indicated that some 53% of the Germans surveyed do not believe national security is being defended through the Afghan mission.

This comes as a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been trying to convince the German public that the Afghan mission is directly related to national security.

The 4,500-strong German deployment in Afghanistan began in 2002 and was long known as a "stabilization mission."

Germans believed that the troops were in the conflict-torn nation only to help reconstruction and train Afghan troops, but not to engage in any form of fighting.

The myth was shattered in September 2009 after a fatal German-ordered airstrike in the northern province of Konduz left as many as 142 people dead.

This along with the growing number of troop casualties has sparked outrage across Germany.

So far, a total of 43 German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124461§ionid=351020604.