Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers in Berlin voted to extend a mandate for German forces' participation in U.S.-led anti- terrorism operations around the globe, including the fight against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

Support from Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition ensured a majority of the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, backed Germany's military engagement in Operation Enduring Freedom for another year, until Nov. 15, 2008.

``We agree that we need to fight the danger where it occurs before it spills over to us,'' Andreas Schockenhoff, a deputy parliamentary spokesman on foreign affairs for Merkel's Christian Democrats, said in a speech to lawmakers today. ``It isn't enough to remove one area of Taliban retreat, only for a new one to spring up.''

Germany's continued participation in the U.S.-led war on terror flies in the face of public opinion. Support for military operations overseas has been sapped by abductions of German citizens and mounting civilian deaths in Afghanistan, where German forces operate under North Atlantic Treaty Organization command. Sixty-one percent of Germans want the troops brought home, an Oct. 11 OmniQuest poll showed.

Germany's involvement with Operation Enduring Freedom has even less support because it is outside NATO's International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF. That was seized on by critics, including lawmakers from the Social Democrats, Merkel's coalition partners, and the opposition Left Party and Greens.

Endangering Success

The mandate for Operation Enduring Freedom ``endangers the success of ISAF,'' said Juergen Trittin, vice-chairman of the Green Party. While OEF was originally mandated by the United Nations Security Council, that ``did not bestow the perpetual right to go to war all over the world,'' Trittin said.

The Greens, as junior coalition partner to the Social Democrats in former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government, agreed to send German forces to Afghanistan in the first place.

Merkel's coalition steered a motion through parliament on Oct. 12 extending Germany's engagement with NATO forces in Afghanistan to assist rebuilding efforts. Germany now has some 3,500 troops in the country including staff to operate six Tornado jets used for surveillance purposes.

The Bundestag vote today lowers the ceiling on Germany's global anti-terror contingent to 1,400 troops from the current 1,800, though that may not affect the number of soldiers on the ground, according to the Defense Ministry. Germany currently has 250 troops deployed near the Horn of Africa and another 50 in the Mediterranean, the ministry said.

While elite KSK special forces participated in U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan after Sept. 11, there are currently no soldiers under the OEF mandate in Afghanistan, the ministry said. Defense Minster Franz Joseph Jung has said that no troops have been deployed under OEF in Afghanistan since 2005.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Rach in Berlin at crach1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 15, 2007 07:05 EST