New Dehli/Kabul - Five years ago, when the German army began its mission in northern Afghanistan, the region was regarded as one of the country's safest.

Now, the solders run the daily risk of "being caught in an explosive or being shot at," as one officer put it. During the last year, the security situation has deteriorated not only in the north, but all across Afghanistan.

Germany's parliament is set to extend the mandate for the German mission to Afghanistan on Thursday by 14 months, instead of the usual 12, in order to bridge a gap caused by upcoming elections in autumn 2009.

The Afghan presidential election, likely to shape the country's future for years to come, is scheduled around the same time, making a further escalation of violence in the coming year more than likely.

As voter registration started last week, Taliban spokesman Kari Jussif Ahmadi warned the population against registering, saying it was a "waste of time," as the militants were set to prevent the election from happening.

"More than half of the country is in our hands, and we will not let it happen," he claimed.

While the Taliban are unlikely to prevent the polls - they failed to do so in 2004, despite grand announcements to the contrary - they are believed to be strong enough to severely disrupt the run-up to the election.

One particularly dire scenario painted by a Western expert predicts the Taliban will succeed in preventing people from voting in volatile areas in the south and east, regions populated by the Pushtun tribes, the main source of Taliban recruits.

As a result of the low turnout in the last election, large parts of the Pushtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, don't accept the election result and turn their backs on the Kabul government in increasing numbers.

The international community hopes to prevent such an outcome by all means, making securing the election one of the most important tasks in 2009.

The German troops within the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will also play a role in the training of Afghan security forces, a process that must be speeded up after being promoted too timidly for a long time.

There is no doubt that this will be dangerous. Even today, the duty of the 4,500 German soldiers is a far cry from the beginning of the mission, when ISAF troops really were peacekeepers.

Soldiers at the German camp in the northern province of Kunduz nicknamed the full moon "rocket weather," because of the many attacks raining down on them by moonlight.

In September, a German soldier was killed in an attack.

"You have an odd feeling when you leave the camp on a mission," said an officer, who did not want to give his name.

"It sensitizes you, but also creates a distance to the population. Just being present, just walking down to the bazaar, like we did two, three years ago, that's not possible any more."

Other soldiers belive that the German population does not appreciate their work, which only makes headline news when attacks occur. "The soldiers want more interest in Germany, and that there is not just focus (on them) when something happens," the German Bundeswehr in Afghanistan said in a statement.

"More appreciation of the efforts here would be welcome, after all soldiers here can die for Germany," the army said. After all, the mission was not just about suicide bombings and roadside bombs, but also about building roads and getting people connected to electricity.

"After all, we have some successes here."