BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's political fortunes are increasingly hostage to events in distant Afghanistan just weeks after her triumphant re-election as German chancellor at the head of her coalition of choice.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's political fortunes are increasingly hostage to events in distant Afghanistan just weeks after her triumphant re-election as German chancellor at the head of her coalition of choice.
Seven weeks into a second term, Merkel has lost one of her most loyal ministers over an air strike that killed civilians and has come under mounting pressure to say what she knew about the embarrassing pre-election incident in an unpopular war.
At the same time, U.S. President Barack Obama is pressing for more soldiers from Germany, which has the third biggest NATO contingent in Afghanistan with close to 4,500 troops.
"Afghanistan is the government's biggest foreign policy headache and it's increasingly becoming a major domestic one too," said Dietmar Herz, a political scientist at the University of Erfurt. "The year 2010 will be very difficult for Merkel."
Already struggling to forge an agreement on planned tax cuts within her conservative bloc, Merkel has faced a growing barrage of fire from left-wing opposition charging that she has the blood of Afghan civilians on her hands.
On Wednesday, a parliamentary investigation into the Sept. 4 strike in Kunduz -- which Kabul says killed 69 insurgents and 30 civilians -- will begin to shed light on what her government knew about the killings and whether it deliberately suppressed details of the attack before a Sept. 27 federal election.
Opposition lawmakers are demanding Merkel testify at the hearings.
Having to defend the army to a sceptical public would be a fresh blow to Merkel, who had hoped governing Germany would get easier after winning the election allowed her to form a new coalition with her preferred partners, the Free Democrats (FDP).
From: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-44773520091216
