Berlin, Dec 3, SPA-- Germany"s lower house of parliament voted today to extend by one year a mandate that allows the government to deploy up to 4,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission there, Reuters reported. The extension of the deployment was backed by 445 members of the Bundestag, with 105 voting against and 43 abstaining. Chancellor Angela Merkel"s government has suggested it could raise troop levels after a conference in London next month which is expected to set out a strategy for transferring security responsibilities to Afghan authorities. But the existing parliamentary mandate was due to expire later this month and Merkel"s new centre-right coalition decided to extend it in its current form rather than boost troop levels immediately. --SPA 21:06 LOCAL TIME 18:06 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/724655