The spectre of terrorism in European capitals is also never far away as a justification for the Afghan mission.

But these efforts to sell the war to the German public, on altruistic or self-interested grounds, are failing, and even more so after the Kunduz airstrike. A majority of the public (58 percent, according to a Sep 11 opinion poll published by ZDF, a public broadcaster) think that the mission there should not be extended.

Only the hard-left Die Linke (The Left) party are calling for immediate German withdrawal, however.

In advance of the Sep 27 election, the talk from Chancellor Angela Merkel and others has been of 'concrete withdrawal plans' and other ways of saying that Germany is heading for the door. 'We are now in a transfer phase. We have to complete the training of (Afghan) security forces as quickly as possible,' Merkel said in the televised 'Chancellor Duel' with Steinmeier Sep 13.

Steinmeier himself has said Germany should try to be out of the country by 2013, despite the suggestion by Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung in August that the Bundeswehr could be in Afghanistan for another ten years.

In some ways, the German government is caught between a rock and a hard place - pressure from Washington and other NATO partners to increase troop numbers and public antipathy to the conflict.

The German government likely hopes it can squeeze through an extension of the Afghanistan mandate given by the parliament, which runs out Dec 13.

But that process is going to be a much tougher sell than in previous years, because of the outrage amongst the public and because of the fact that Germany is likely to be asked by NATO for more troops as other allies leave.

'It's not just going to be a simple parliamentary rubber-stamp,' says Kaim.

Alongside the Netherlands, Canada has said it will leave Afghanistan regardless of the situation there, in 2011. New NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he expects more from alliance members.

This may well leave the new German government, whatever combination of colours it might be, having to justify taking the country deeper into a war that it clearly does not want.