Germany's defence minister said on Monday that the true reality of the Afghan conflict had been previously blurred, in reaction to the release of tens of thousands of pages of previously classified war documents by Wikileaks, dpa reported.
Speaking in a TV interview, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg admitted that "the reality had been softened somewhat" in recent times, and called for a more open approach to the NATO-led Afghan mission.
But he also warned that the 92,000 pages of documents "cannot be read in just a few hours," and cautioned that the leaks could be useful to the radical Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan.
He was talking to the Phoenix TV channel, on the day that Der Spiegel, the New York Times and The Guardian all published the documents.
Wikileaks is an online depository for leaked material from whistle-blowers.
A majority of German public opinion is against the country's involvement in Afghanistan, whilst the death toll of German forces has also mounted in recent attacks.