Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- An al-Qaeda spokesman warned Germans that if they don’t vote to change their government in the Sept. 27 national election, there will be a “bad awakening,” according to the U.S.-based IntelCenter.

On the almost 26-minute video, Abu Talha, also known as Bekay Harrach, spoke in German and told Muslims to avoid vital services for two weeks following the election and for Muslim youth to let al-Qaeda act first if jihad is declared in Germany, the Alexandria, Virginia-based IntelCenter said in an e-mailed report.

Ben Venzke, a spokesman for IntelCenter, which monitors extremist Web sites, didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Germany’s involvement with the war in Afghanistan has become a political issue after a German commander ordered a NATO air strike that may have killed civilians. Two tanker trucks seized by Taliban militants were targeted in the Sept. 4 strike, killing scores of people in an area where International Security Assistance Force troops are under German command.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s main challenger in the election, wants to create the conditions for an international troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within four years, his spokesman said this week.

10-Point Plan

Aides to Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, have drafted 10 points for a possible pullout accord with the Afghan government, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jens Ploetner, told reporters in Berlin on Sept. 14.

Polls show a majority of voters oppose German military involvement in Afghanistan. The country has about 4,000 troops in Afghanistan as of July 23, according to the ISAF Web site. They are among the total of about 64,500 international troops in the country.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats, her preferred ally after the election, dropped to a combined 49 percent support in an FG Wahlen poll for ZDF television today. The Social Democrats, Merkel’s current coalition partner and main election rival, rose 2 points to 25 percent.

In a videotaped message released in January, a group linked to al-Qaeda threatened attacks on Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan.

Thirty-three Germans were killed in Afghanistan from March 2002 through June 23, 2009, and five of the deaths occurred this year, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 18, 2009 14:05 EDT