"I don't want to exclude the possibility that the security situation could intensify in the event of any war on Iraq," Struck said at a press conference in Berlin, focused on military reform, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said a contingency plan had been prepared to evacuate civilians and in the longer-term the German military from Afghanistan if tensions were too high.

Germany would "first evacuate civilian colleagues by planes within a week and then the soldiers," said the defense minister.

A German Defense Ministry spokesman told AFP later that a withdrawal would only be ordered in the case of an emergency.

Germany and the Netherlands took joint command of ISAF from Turkey on February 10 and will lead it for six months, but Berlin has been urging NATO to take over the leadership role at the end of its mandate.

Berlin believes progress had been made in returning Afghanistan to some semblance of normality, but that ethnic and social tensions and "the latent danger" posed by the Taliban mean the war-torn country is still unstable.

Germany decision to take on the joint leadership role was also made in an effort to improve ties with Washington, damaged when Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stridently opposed war on Iraq during last year's election campaign.

Since then, Schroeder has tried to focus on Berlin's large role in the international "war against terrorism", of which ISAF deployment is a part.

After the United States, Germany has the most soldiers of any country deployed abroad with around 10,000 troops in peacekeeping missions and anti-terror operations.

On February 8, Struck said U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had assured him that he would support the German proposal for NATO to take over ISAF command.

He said that because of the limited number of countries capable of taking charge of ISAF, it made sense for the transatlantic alliance to shoulder the burden.

The 19-nation military alliance is already involved in ISAF tasks in terms of reconnaissance, communications and information processing.

"For practical reasons we should assign NATO greater participation in the follow-on operation," Struck said at the time.

The 4,800-strong force has patrolled Kabul and its environs since its creation under an Afghan power-sharing agreement reached in Bonn in 2001 following the fall of the Taliban.

The Defense Minister said Friday that Afghanistan was relatively stable at the moment but he said that rockets had been fired near German barracks there.

Struck himself was taken to shelter February 10 during a visit to Kabul for the leadership handover when two rockets landed in the vicinity.

By the end of the month, ISAF will comprise some 5,000 troops from 30 countries, providing assistance to Afghan authorities in securing Kabul.

These will include around 2,500 German military and 600 Dutch soldiers.

Germany to Adapt Army for Operations Abroad

Meanwhile, Germany will cut billions of euros in defense spending and adapt its military to operate better in crisis zones abroad, even outside areas where NATO operates, Struck said Friday.

Announcing the plans at a press conference in Berlin, Struck said his ministry would save a total of some 3.2 billion euros (3.5 billion dollars) over the next decade by buying fewer aircraft and through naval reform.

He said Germany would give up efforts to buy up to 90 Tornado fighter jets from a British-led consortium and 30 Tiger combat helicopters built by a Franco-German joint venture.

Struck told parliament in December that an order of A400M Airbus military transport aircraft would also be cut back from 73 to 60.

Germany has frustrated its European partners by prevaricating on its commitment to developing the new A400M, one of the EU's major joint military projects, but its participation is critical as its order is the biggest.

Its order of Meteor advanced air-to-air missiles has also been reduced to 600 from 1,488.

In addition, only 1,250 Iris-T missiles will be bought instead of 1,812. The two sets of missiles are intended to arm Eurofighter warplanes.

The government announced last year that it was planning heavy cuts in military spending in an effort to try to lower its large public deficit.

But NATO, the EU and U.S. officials have long called on it to commit more to defense spending, particularly after the Balkans conflicts highlighted gaps between European and U.S. forces, both in terms of preparedness and technology.

Germany currently spends about 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense and NATO chief George Robertson has urged all member countries to commit to investing a full two percent of GDP on their military budgets.