For many Germans, deployment in Afghanistan meant delivering aid and reconstruction to the country's relatively peaceful north.

But now the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous. And Germany seems to have found itself unwillingly dragged into a war.

Back home, meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel last month awarded four soldiers the Bundeswehr's new cross of honour.

It was the first time since the end of World War II that Germany had awarded medals for bravery - a remarkable change in attitude considering post-war Germany's traditional wariness of military symbols.