GERMANY:Berlin is poised to take on a greater role in fighting Taliban forces in Afghanistan when the cabinet widens the mandate of Bundeswehr troops in the country this morning.
The cabinet decision, which requires Bundestag backing, would allow eight German Tornado aircraft patrol the dangerous southern skies of Afghanistan by April. Currently the Bundeswehr's Afghanistan mandate limits its 2,700 soldiers to the more peaceful northern regions.
Ahead of today's cabinet meeting, defence minister Franz Josef Jung has announced plans to build a memorial to German servicemen and women killed in action since the Bundeswehr was created half a century ago.
The memorial is likely to be built on the grounds of the defence ministry in Berlin, site of the execution of four military officers involved in the 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Mr Jung said: "The German army and German society as a whole have a duty to honour the memory of the Bundeswehr's dead, because they gave their lives to protect peace and freedom."
A wider Afghanistan deployment and a memorial for German army dead - past and future - have been interpreted in Berlin as further steps in regularising the role of the Bundeswehr, founded in 1955.
With the memory of Hitler's Wehrmacht still fresh, post-war leaders were careful to create a "defence-only" role for the Bundeswehr in the constitution. However, a court ruled in 1994 that offensive missions were possible where there was a risk to the security of Germany or its Nato allies.
The first armed deployment, to Kosovo five years later, provoked an emotional protest, but subsequent deployments have been less controversial.
During a surprise visit to German troops in Afghanistan yesterday, Mr Jung admitted the deployment in southern Afghanistan was a "risky mission".
He said he "cannot and will not" rule out that the aircraft being involved in active combat, prompting military observers to suggest that German Tornado planes will be involved in a Nato drive to counter an expected Taliban "spring offensive".
Agreeing to greater military involvement in Afghanistan will ease pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel at this year's Munich security summit, which she opens on Thursday in the Bavarian capital.
The Afghanistan plans have drawn surprisingly mild reactions from opposition parties. Only Left Party co-leader Oskar Lafontaine has criticised the plan, which he says will "endanger the lives of German soldiers and bring terrorism back home".