Germans in Afghanistan

[davidbfpo]

Within this pre-deployment article on a US Army battalion is the news to me that they are being deployed in Kunduz Province, in Northern Afghanistan:

...the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y....Forward Operating Base Kunduz...Just months before, the base, on a plateau overlooking the city, housed fewer than 200 National Guard soldiers......Intelligence officers with the alliance say that five of Kunduz’s seven districts are contested or controlled by the Taliban.

They are mentoring the ANP, note no mention of the ANA and I'd overlooked that the taliban had made inroads in this former Northern Alliance territory and short briefing, with map:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_Province


Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/wo...on.html?ref=us

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Free Range International pointing at this news article on the death of NGO staff in Kunduz recently:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...Tabs%3Darticle

When Taliban militants invaded the towering Kunduz villa of an American development agency in July, employees say they were trapped, besieged and soon were dodging indiscriminate rocket fire from their would-be rescuers—the Afghan army and police.

From FRI a comment:

If you are a German citizen you may want to skip this because it is about the response to the Taliban attack on DAI in Kunduz earlier this year by the German military. Response is actually the wrong word, inaction bordering on gross incompetence is a better description of this disgraceful story which should be causing national outrage in Germany. The only bright spot for Germans in this saga was the senior security manager, a German national, who was killed while fighting to protect his clients. I spent hundreds hours of my professional life studying the innovation and professionalism of the German military during the First and Second World Wars. It gives me no pleasure to highlight this story of incompetence and indifference from a military which was once the best the world had ever seen.

This article could fit in other threads, on the Afghan security forces for example and the situation in the north.

The FRI article covers other topics: http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=3656

[Fuchs]

It's not the army, it's the politicians.

[120mm]

Kunduz residents are rapidly becoming disenchanted with the Germans' laissez faire approach to COIN. Especially as INS from surrounding areas roam at will.

What is necessary are some sustained security and development efforts.

The recent assassination of the provincial governor just might help, as that guy was quite the corrupt snake. Unfortunately, we are fully prepared for him to be replaced by yet another snake.

The compare and contrast with the German profligerate and excessive expenditure on their bases and troop comfort items and their niggardly support of development efforts outside their FOBs ingratiate themselves to no-one. Their bases are an embarrassment, imo. Club MeS and the PRT Kunduz Resort, anyone?

Their is some bright points, though. The current German chain of command is highly enlightened, in comparison to some in the past, and are showing increased flexibility and audacity.