MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, April 14 (UPI) -- German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg arrived in Afghanistan Wednesday for an unannounced visit.
"I want to ensure the troops on the ground that the political leadership stands behind them," zu Guttenberg said after arriving in Mazar-i-Sharif, where the Germans operate a large base.
Zu Guttenberg is also to meet with U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who commands the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
The trip comes less than two weeks after three German soldiers died in a firefight with Taliban insurgents near Kunduz, and as support for the mission is waning at home.
A poll published by German news magazine Stern indicates that 64 percent of Germans asked said they were in favor of returning the troops home -- the highest percentage ever.
Germany has nearly 5,000 troops with the ISAF, most of them in northern Afghanistan.
The German presence has come under fire for a controversial German-ordered air raid that killed more than 140 people, most of them Afghan civilians, near Kunduz last September.
