A Der Spiegel article 'Learning to Fight: How Afghanistan Changed the German Military':http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-927891.html

That opens with:
The evolving role of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, in the conflict has helped to dramatically reshape it as a more experienced and capable fighting operation. Yet the German public has become even more opposed to military engagement overseas than it was 10 years ago, calling into question what sort of role the Bundeswehr will play in supporting NATO and the United Nations in future international conflicts.
My title explained:
A turning point may have come in 2009, when former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg became the first German official to label German operations in Afghanistan as a "war," bringing the reality back home to the German public.