BERLIN, Nov 28: Germany and France on Wednesday opposed US plans to extend the war beyond Afghanistan.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warned against taking the war on terrorism to countries beyond Afghanistan, following US hints that Iraq could be next to face military action.

Schroeder told parliament it was essential to maintain the international coalition against terrorism and called for restraint in the debate on the future of the military campaign.

“We should be very cautious in particular in talking about new targets in the Middle East. We could take on more than any of us is capable of handling,” Schroeder said during a debate on the 2002 budget that drifted to foreign policy issues.

“We will do what is necessary, but will reserve the right to decide what is necessary,” he said of Germany’s role in the campaign.

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of the Greens party added in comments before the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, that European Union leaders were unanimous in their deep scepticism about putting Iraq in the crosshairs.

“We have explained that at length to our partners in the United States,” he said, adding that it would be better to focus efforts on finding political solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East than to widen the military campaign.

He added it would be “irresponsible to look for new targets” to attack.

Fischer said that Germany would abide by its military commitments in the alliance against terror and noted that Germany had consistently supported weapons inspections by international observers in Iraq.

But he said military strikes should continue to be viewed as only the last option in resolving conflict.

The deputy head of Schroeder’s Social Democrats parliamentary group, Gernot Erler, issued an even stronger warning against expanding the anti-terror campaign to Iraq.

He told Berlin’s Inforadio that there was an international interest in allowing weapons inspectors to enter the country due to fears Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction.

But he said that attempting to draw a connection between Iraq and the September 11 attacks and “saying ‘the next country is Iraq’ is something I cannot warn against enough”.

An attack on Iraq “would surely mean the end of the great political alliance against terrorism”.

FRANCE: French Defence Minister Alain Richard said on Wednesday that military attacks on Iraq or other countries are not necessary, after the US-led campaign against Afghanistan.

“There is no other nation whose leaders have been active accomplices of terrorist actions,” he said in Sofia. “So we do not believe that it is today necessary to take military action against other sites.”

Richard, speaking during a visit to the Bulgarian capital, said: “We said that where they is a precise justification against terrorist activity centres on territory other than Afghanistan, we would provide unlimited support.

“But all the information we have now (concerns) terrorist activity planning of Al Qaeda,” he said.

“On the other hand cooperation in intelligence-gathering and police investigation between countries concerned must develop further to avoid such dangerous terrorist centres from building up again,” he added.

The French minister, meanwhile, welcomed the talks outside Bonn aimed at forming an interim Afghan government, but warned that Taliban remained a destabilizing force in the southeast of the country.

“We have to prevent a zone of instability developing which could pose a threat to political reconstruction,” he said.

AL WARNING: Arab League chief Amr Mussa, meanwhile, reaffirmed that Arab countries would reject any strike on a fellow Arab state such as Iraq as part of the US war on terrorism and warned it could spell the end of the anti-terror coalition.

Germany has committed up to 3,900 troops to assist the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, but has ruled out participating in airstrikes in the country or deploying ground troops.—AFP