U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has promised European powers that they will be heard more in the future, something Paris and Berlin are happy to hear considering that President Bush hasn't exactly consulted them on his major decisions, such as the war in Iraq. Yet with greater political integration apparently comes also a greater share of the burden:

If he became president, Obama said recently on his campaign trail, then he would "ask more from our European allies" to win the struggle in Afghanistan.

"With respect to our NATO allies, I've been very clear that we do need more support from them," he said. "You can't have a situation where the United States is called upon to do the dirty work, or the United States and Britain are called upon to do the dirty work, and nobody else wants to engage in actual firefights with the Taliban."

"We also may need to lift some of the constraints that they have placed on their forces there," Obama added.

While Bush isn't exactly a dove, Obama's comments are far more hawkish than anything Bush has publicly told European governments on the war in Afghanistan.

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona, by experts considered the greatest expert on ties with Europe (he has traveled extensively there and has fostered close contacts with senior figures in London, Berlin and Paris), has also said he would press his European allies to engage multilaterally in southern Afghanistan, and so has Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York -- it's simply the only way Washington can share the burden, and possibly the blame, in case things go as wrong in Afghanistan as they did in Iraq.

"Whoever wins you will see a much greater interest in European ideas and opinions, but also a greater interest in significant contributions to Afghanistan," Anne Applebaum, historian and Washington Post columnist, said last week in Berlin.

Obama did not single out individual nations regarding his criticism, but NATO has in the past accused Germany of being one of those countries refusing to do the dirty work.

The German government has come under growing pressure to move its soldiers to the southern regions, where U.S., British and Canadian soldiers take heavy casualties in their battle against the Taliban.

Yet the German government mandate includes caveats that forbid moving its soldiers into the southern provinces, where casualties would surely ensue, a development that could lead to public pressure in Germany becoming so great that Berlin may be forced to pull out all of its troops.

Earlier this year leading military experts from five NATO member states -- the United States, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands -- nevertheless unveiled a manifesto that calls on NATO to abolish the current system of national caveats.

Those restrictions have in the past irritated commanders in Afghanistan, because some countries, including Germany, with caveats have managed to stay away from the heaviest fighting. The new measure would oblige these countries to commit to enemy engagements or forsake any sovereignty in the running of NATO missions.

Germany has more than 3,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led, U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force. Roughly 500 soldiers run and maintain six Panavia Tornado jets that fly reconnaissance missions all over the country, and some 100 soldiers take part in the U.S.-led anti-terror mission Operation Enduring Freedom, but they are hardly ever called into action.

Berlin argues it is doing important reconstruction work in the northern parts of Afghanistan and should not give up any of its positions there. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently brushed aside calls for additional German troops in Afghanistan, telling the foreign press corps in Berlin that she saw "absolutely no need" to enlarge the German mandate.

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