Engels en Duits plan om vroegtijdig troepen terug te trekken uit Bosnië bestempeld als risicovol (en)

Germany and Britain have indicated they may withdraw troops from EU hopeful state Bosnia and Herzegovina due to other engagements - but the early pull-out plans are seen as risky, with the Balkans region remaining potentially unstable.

German defence minister Franz Josef Jung and UK counterpart Des Browne indicated this week their countries' armies are at full stretch in peacekeeping and anti-terror missions around the globe, questioning the necessity of staying on in EU hopeful state Bosnia.

Berlin and London contribute around 900 men to the 7,000 strong EU military mission in the Balkan country, which aims to underpin security after the bloody 1992-1995 war.

Mr Browne told British MPs on Monday (30 October) that troops could be withdrawn from Bosnia "in or about the spring of next year," UK daily The Guardian reports.

"Whilst I disagree that our armed forces are at overstretch, it seems pretty clear that they are certainly at stretch and have been for some considerable time," he said, referring to the UK's military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The comments followed remarks by Germany's defence minister, who told German television on Sunday (29 October) that he is planning an "exit strategy" from Bosnia, explaining that "in some areas we have reached our limits."

But the German minister's plans have sparked criticism from experts as well as from chancellor Angela Merkel herself, according to press reports.

German papers report that Mr Jung's statements surprised and offended Ms Merkel, who is reportedly of the opinion that any early pull-out shoould be based on the situation in Bosnia and not on Germany's own military considerations.

The pull-out plans come just after the German cabinet last week approved a white paper calling for a greater role in peacekeeping and fighting terrorism abroad.

Experts have also criticised the proposals for coming at a bad time, when fresh instability looms over the Balkan region, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Ivan Vejvoda, executive director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, said "the announcement by the German defense minister sends [out] all the wrong signals,"

"Of course countries want to downsize, but it is far too early to take our eye off the ball in the Balkans. The international community has to be extremely careful in how it continues to deal with the region, especially Kosovo."

Politicians in Republika Srpska, the autonomous Serb region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, could use any future independence of Kosovo as an argument to secede from Bosnia, some analysts fear.

But Mr Jung also said that Bosnia is in a "new stabilisation phase" after last month's parliamentary elections, which went "very well."