2009-07-02 14:50:04 -
BAD SALZUNGEN, Germany (AP) - Germany's leaders defended their country's unpopular deployment in Afghanistan on Thursday as a memorial service was held for three soldiers who died following an attack last week.
Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung paid tribute to the three men, who died June 23 when their armored vehicle crashed into a stream near Kunduz after being attacked by insurgents.
The deaths «confront us with the sense of this mission in Afghanistan,» Jung said at the memorial service in eastern Germany. «My answer is clear: we are in Afghanistan because we have to protect there the security of citizens in Germany.
«Those who are now thinking of withdrawal or even demanding it would put Afghanistan back in the hands of the Taliban,» he said. «That is exactly what they want _ and, in the interest of our security, we must not allow that.
Germany currently has 3,720 soldiers in the NATO-led stabilization force. They serve in Afghanistan's relatively calm north rather than the volatile south, but even so have regularly been the targets of attacks.
Thirty-five German soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the country's mission there began in 2002. The mission has become unpopular over recent years.
A poll of 1,003 Germans conducted June 24 and 25 by the Forsa agency found that 61 percent believed the German military should withdraw, though it did not specify when, and 33 percent thought the soldiers should stay.
That compared with 59 percent opposition to the deployment in a similar poll last September, and 52 percent in September 2007.
The poll, released Wednesday, gave a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The deployment still has wide mainstream political support. Ahead of national elections Sept. 27 only one of the five parties in parliament, the opposition Left Party, is advocating a German withdrawal.
Germany's leaders have sought to highlight the civilian element of the country's mission in Afghanistan, such as protecting rebuilding efforts and training police.
Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers Thursday that «there is no sensible alternative to the ... strategy of the NATO deployment and our civilian commitment.
«We will not run away from this task,» she said. «We will fulfill it step by step.
