"The decision of SPD and Greens to send German troops into the Kosovo in 1998 has transformed the Bundeswehr," Benjamin Schreer, military expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a Berlin-based think tank, said Tuesday in a telephone interview with United Press International. "The Bundeswehr is now operating on a global scale."

According to Germany's defense ministry, about 7,000 soldiers are serving in missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kosovo and Sudan, making Germany one of the top contributors to international missions.

Roughly 2,250 men and women are stationed in Afghanistan, as part of the U.N.-mandated, NATO-led peacekeeping mission. They are serving with the 10,500-strong International Security Assistance Force to bolster security in western and northern Afghanistan and in the capital, Kabul.

Taking into account that some of the top Social Democrats have their political origins in the peace movement, and that the Greens in the past had talked about leaving NATO and getting rid of the Bundeswehr, the transformation of Germany's armed forces is rather startling.

"Nobody would have guessed in 1996 that a government of SPD and Greens was to send German troops into the Kosovo," Schreer said. "But they (SPD and Greens) have accepted the realities of a new strategic framework."

The challenges of the 21st century have included a few controversial ones. The mission in the Balkans, where German Tornado planes bombed Serbian radar stations, was topic of a heated debate not only within Germany's governing coalition, but also in the international community. Most Germans, however, supported the war in former Yugoslavia.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Germany took part in several anti-terrorism missions. The operation "Active Endeavor" has German units monitor the Mediterranean waters for terrorism-related activities. In Afghanistan and East Africa, German troops battle Islamist terrorism with sea units, ground troops and special forces.

The mission in Afghanistan had German troops, roughly 100 special forces who, for the first time since World War II, took part in ground combat.

The Kommando Spezialkraefte, known by its acronym KSK, is a highly trained and well-equipped special unit that has successfully been assigned to Kosovo and Afghanistan. Most of their operations, however, are classified.

The Bundeswehr, once restricted by the German constitution to exclusively domestic protection, can now send armed troops to foreign countries -- a war of aggression, with Germany taking part, however, is not only unconstitutional, but also unthinkable, taking into account the country's past.

"The Bundeswehr still operates mainly in peace-keeping missions and always in a multilateral framework," he said. "That's acceptable for all parties in the Bundestag and the German public."

German troops, after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had fiercely campaigned against a U.S.-led war against Baghdad, stayed out of Iraq. German units stationed in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, however, have trained Iraqi security personnel.

Most peacekeeping missions, such as the Kfor operation in the Balkans, and the stability missions in Macedonia are politically uncontroversial, as they are accompanied by virtually zero casualties.

The many recent humanitarian assignments of the Bundeswehr, such as those in Indonesia after the December 2004 tsunami, have a long tradition: Since 1960, roughly 130 such missions have been carried out by Bundeswehr troops.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, the German armed forces faced key reforms. After the CDU-led government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl integrated roughly 20,000 soldiers of former communist East Germany, the SPD/Greens pushed further structural changes. Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping and his successor, Peter Struck, gradually downsized the Bundeswehr, which during the Cold War was 495,000 men-strong. Now a bit more than 250,000 men and women -- who were allowed to join in 2001 -- serve in its ranks.

"The experience in the Kosovo had many realize that the Bundeswehr has to acquire new skills," Herfried Muenkler, military expert at Berlin's Humboldt University, Tuesday told UPI. "The need to adapt to new, fast-changing threats and enemies, including international terrorism cells, combined with the need for structural reforms -- that's a tough job for any government."

Seven years of Scharping/Struck can thus be considered "a relatively intense but successful reform story," he said.

Those years will likely come to an end, however, as the SPD trails Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, who are ready to take office in Berlin after the Sept. 18 elections. Schreer and Muenkler both said they don't think a CDU-led government would do things very differently, however.

The military's budget and the domestic draft, which all young men at the age of 18 have to enter for 10 months, have been topics of much discussion in recent years. The SPD/Greens have floated the option of getting rid of Germany's general conscription, which the CDU is unlikely to back.

"The draft, in the long term, is not sustainable," Schreer said. "Other European Union countries are deciding to get rid of it. Germany will likely have to follow."

Scharping and later Struck have tried to get more money for their troops, but the ever-growing federal deficit has no room for much spending. Currently, the Bundeswehr gets roughly $29 billion a year, compared to U.S. defense expenditures of roughly $400 billion.

The current development is dangerous in light of the forces' new assignments, Schreer said.

"If the Bundeswehr continues to be increasingly challenged in international missions, and new investments fail to be made, then our troops will likely face serious problems after 2007."

Any new government, whether CDU or SPD-led, would have to deal with those, he said.

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