Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has extended the country's military presence in Afghanistan despite increasing public opposition.
On Friday, a total of 420 lawmakers voted in favor of their country's military mission in Afghanistan while 116 voted against it.
There were also 23 abstentions during the session, DPA reported.
The new statute allows German troops to operate in war-torn Afghanistan under the command of the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) until February 2012.
"Today marks a real change in the context of Afghan mission," The Local website quoted German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle as saying on Friday.
"This means that we want to begin this year to hand over responsibility at regional level and then at the end of the year to start to reduce the presence of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces)."
Polls show the majority of Germans are opposed to the war in Afghanistan. While Germans protested against war in Afghanistan in 2001, the US succeeded in dragging Germany into its first war since WWII.
The German contingent in Afghanistan numbers 5,350 men and women. Germany has the third-largest number of troops in Afghanistan. A total of 46 German soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the beginning of the US-led war.
Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming more and more outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.
The growing number of civilian deaths in NATO and US attacks has also fueled tensions between President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies.
MP/HGH/AKM