Editing Foreign relations of Germany (section)

==Disputes==
[[Image:Schröder and Bush.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Chancellor [[Gerhard Schröder]] with U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] at the White House in 2001]]

In 2001, the discovery that the terrorist cell which carried out the attacks against the United States on [[September 11 attacks|11 September 2001]], was based in Hamburg, sent shock waves through the country.{{clarify|date=March 2015}}

The government of Chancellor [[Gerhard Schröder]] backed the following U.S. military actions, sending [[Bundeswehr]] troops to [[Afghanistan]] to lead a joint NATO program to provide security in the country after the ousting of the [[Taliban]].

Nearly all of the public was strongly against America's [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], and any deployment of troops.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/22/germany.france|title=France and Germany Unite Against Iraq War|access-date=7 March 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 January 2003}}</ref> This position was shared by the SPD/Green government, which led to some friction with the United States.

In August 2006, the German government disclosed a botched plot to bomb two German trains. The attack was to occur in July 2006 and involved a 21-year-old Lebanese man, identified only as Youssef Mohammed E. H. Prosecutors said Youssef and another man left suitcases stuffed with crude propane-gas bombs on the trains.

As of February 2007, Germany had about 3,000 NATO-led [[International Security Assistance Force]] force in [[Afghanistan]] as part of the [[War on Terrorism]], the third largest contingent after the United States (14,000) and the United Kingdom (5,200).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.hq.nato.int/ISAF/media/pdf/placemat_isaf.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=15 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224153539/http://www2.hq.nato.int/ISAF/media/pdf/placemat_isaf.pdf |archive-date=24 February 2007 }}</ref> German forces are mostly in the more secure north of the country.

However, Germany, along with some other larger European countries (with the exception of the UK and the Netherlands), have been criticised by the UK and Canada for not sharing the burden of the more intensive [[Coalition combat operations in Afghanistan in 2006|combat operations]] in southern Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afghannews.net/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1355 |title=Afghan News Network|publisher=Afghannews.net |access-date=31 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/27/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Afghanistan-Troops.php |title=Search – Global Edition – The New York Times |newspaper=International Herald Tribune |date=29 March 2009 |access-date=31 December 2010}}</ref>