Reuters

Karsten Voigt, the coordinator for German-American cooperation, isn't sure who will be the next U.S. President but he knows one thing: whoever it is, they'll want more German troops in Afghanistan. Last month, he told Bloomberg that, "Whatever the color of the next government, it will want us to increase our engagement in Afghanistan. Expectations are crystal clear."

This week, following a particularly serious request for more German troops by NATO and an equally serious refusal (for one thing, Germany doesn't have those extra helicopters the Americans are on about), Voigt says he expects the next American president to put more pressure on Europe (paraphrasing) to put out.

He tells Der Spiegel "in situations where US security is at stake, no American president will allow his or her decision to be tied to multilateral institutions." Although Voigt does expect to see a more multi-lateral policy in the next POTUS, he sees essentially the same foreign policy standpoint from all three candidates: advancing the interests of the United States to "increase the power and the appeal of the USA."

If anything Voigt is a gifted diplomat, professing willingness to work with the next president regardless of political party. Matching the zeitgest of the German populace, asked who he prefers in the current race, "my gut feeling is to go for Barack Obama, but my head tells me to back Hillary Clinton." Then to DW, "it's obvious that John McCain has been in Germany very often. We know him very well; he'll be at the Munich security conference." (Update: actually, no, he just cancelled.) Despite Voigt's openess to the next leadership (it's his job after all), one does get a sense that he's also happy to see the changing of the guard. Simply the hope that Germany will be seen as a crucial ally in global affairs rather than an obstacle blocking unilateral goals in the "war on terror" seems to be enough to get the man excited about the future.