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• 3,600 consume 1m litres a year in Afghan mission
• Ministry plays down amount drunk by soldiers
Kate Connolly in Berlin
If the German defence ministry's figures are anything to go by, being a soldier in Afghanistan is clearly thirsty work.
According to military sources, around 1m litres (1.8m pints) of beer were shipped to German troops stationed in Afghanistan last year, as well as almost 70,000 litres of wine and sekt, a German sparkling wine.
The admission has shocked a country that has never had much time for the Afghan mission. Newspaper reports under headlines such as Drink for the Fatherland and Bundeswehr Boozers have suggested that alcohol is the only way of keeping soldiers onside at a time when it is becoming ever harder to recruit them.
The figures suggest that the 3,600 German soldiers based in Afghanistan as part of Nato's ISAF reconstruction mission, are each consuming around 278 litres of beer a year each, about 490 pints, as well as 128 standard measures of wine. The figures are set to rise by around 10% this year as troop numbers also increase.
Critics of the mission who have long-argued that Germany should extend its mandate to the dangerous areas in the south of Afghanistan from the relatively safe north, say the admission harms German claims that it is taking a professional approach to the job.
US troops face an alcohol ban when on mission while British and other armies are allowed to drink moderately when not on duty. This discrepancy led to the claim made at a Nato conference on Afghanistan that "some drink beer while others risk their lives."
But the German defence ministry has reacted coolly, saying that the supply levels indicate that soldiers are "well within" the allowed "two can a day" limit - equivalent to 1 litre.
Thomas Raabe, a defence ministry spokesman said that the figures suggested soldiers were drinking "0.8 litres every day". He added that the alcohol supplies, which are flown in from camps in Tajikistan and are put on sale in shops at German military camps, were not just consumed by soldiers, but also by German police, diplomats and journalists.
Jens Plötner, a foreign ministry spokesman, suggested that even the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was partly to blame. "When he visits Afghanistan occasionally one or two cans of beer will be downed," said Plötner.
But as Germany digs in for the long haul in Afghanistan, after the German parliament this week voted to extend the mission by another year and to increase troop numbers by a further 900, the alcohol consumption revelation has highlighted concerns about how sufficiently equipped and serious its conscript army really is.
Elke Hoff, a member of the parliamentary defence committee, who lodged the request with the ministry to find out how much alcohol was consumed, said she did so after hearing from troops and Afghans that in German military camps "people liked to down quite a few."
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hey.... somebody had to do it!! by the way what happened to the beer mug emoticon?? seriously, i think the german government has bigger schnitzel to fry than making a pissing contest over some brewskies in a combat zone.
