Germans in Afghanistan

[JT Clark]

I spend a lot of time in Germany and speak German. A few years back one of the glossy magazines published some leaked photos of a KSK unit in their long-range patrol vehicle. The front bumper was covered in zip-tied on human skulls. The vehicle certainly wasn't sitting on a FOB at the time- but the public outcry may explain why they've been keeping a low profile since.

[Entropy]

I spend a lot of time in Germany and speak German. A few years back one of the glossy magazines published some leaked photos of a KSK unit in their long-range patrol vehicle. The front bumper was covered in zip-tied on human skulls. The vehicle certainly wasn't sitting on a FOB at the time- but the public outcry may explain why they've been keeping a low profile since.

Actually, the picture of the vehicle didn't have skulls, but the Afrika Corps insignia and was taken in Oman, not Afghanistan.

There was another incident where some German troops, but not KSK, made some obscene pictures with human skulls found near Kabul. Some of them were later court-martialed, IIRC.

The low profile may instead stem from accusations of abuse at the hands of the KSK of a German national captured in Pakistan and interrogated in Kandahar.

[Jedburgh]

CES, 1 Dec 08: German problems with their mission in Afghanistan

he increase in the Bundeswehr's contingent in Afghanistan up to 4,500 soldiers, which the Bundestag voted for this October, has not eased the criticism of German engagement by some of their allies. In the next few months, Germany will find itself under increasing pressure to enhance their participation in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, especially from the new US administration. President-elect Barack Obama has already promised to shift the emphasis of the US engagement from Iraq to Afghanistan, expecting at the same time that European allies, mainly Germany will intensify their engagement in combat operations. Although the German contingent is the third biggest in Afghanistan, its engagement in combat operations against the Taleban is rather small. The government has limited the Bundeswehr's activity to non-military operations in the relatively quiet northern provinces of Afghanistan and prefers engagement in reconstruction and development aid. One of the reasons for that is the German public opinion's negative perception of the Bundeswehr's military missions for historical reasons. The German policy is unlikely to change, especially considering the approaching parliamentary elections next autumn and the diminishing consensus over the engagement in Afghanistan among the political elite. Germany expects that the USA will treat its European allies' views regarding security issues with greater respect and at the same time is not ready to incur an equal share of the military costs as part of NATO. Therefore the mission in Afghanistan may become a problem in future relations between Germany and the USA.......

[Surferbeetle]

From the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zietung

Interministerielle Entfremdung

03. Dezember 2008 Eine Art Stellvertreterkrieg wird derzeit zwischen Innen- und Verteidigungsministerium ausgetragen. Er betrifft die deutschen Unterstützungsleistungen für den Aufbau der Polizeikräfte in Afghanistan, und ein Stellvertreter ist der Bundeswehrverband. Dessen bisheriger Vorsitzender Gertz und sein Nachfolger Kirsch hatten den Beitrag mehrfach als unzulänglich kritisiert. Am Wochenende reagierte ein Sprecher von Innenminister Schäuble (CDU) darauf in scharfer Form: Gertz sei ein „chronischer Faktenleugner“, und Kirsch trete nun in seine Fußstapfen. 24.000 Polizisten seien unmittelbar durch Deutschland geschult worden.

My translation...

'Alienation between Ministries

A kind of representative’s war is taking place between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense. It involves the German support work for the Development of the Afghanistan Police and the Armed Forces Association. The previous leader [COL Bernhard] Gertz and his replacement [LTC Ulrich] Kirsch have criticized the [German] contribution as repeatedly taking too long. During the weekend the Speaker for the Ministry of Interior, Schauble (CDU) reacted sharply: Gertz is a “chronic denier of the facts” and Kirsch is following in his footsteps. 24,000 Police have been directly trained by Germany.'

[Jedburgh]

IPCS, 8 Jul 09: Afghanistan: Understanding German Objectives and Strategies

....The German strategy in Afghanistan has been aimed at building a reasonable balance between civil and military efforts. German troops have been widely involved in reconstruction acitivities in the northern provinces of Afghanistan, where Germany maintains two Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT), in Konduz and Feyzabad. The success of German efforts in the north is respectable. The ISAF troops seem to be well connected to the local population and the Afghan people have welcomed their presence.....

[Rex Brynen]

Sole Informant Guided Decision On Afghan Strike

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 6, 2009

HAJI SAKHI DEDBY, Afghanistan, Sept. 5 -- To the German commander, it seemed to be a fortuitous target: More than 100 Taliban insurgents were gathering around two hijacked fuel tankers that had become stuck in the mud near this small farming village.

The grainy live video transmitted from an American F-15E fighter jet circling overhead, which was projected on a screen in a German tactical operations center four miles north of here, showed numerous black dots around the trucks -- each of them a thermal image of a human but without enough detail to confirm whether they were carrying weapons. An Afghan informant was on the phone with an intelligence officer at the center, however, insisting that everybody at the site was an insurgent, according to an account that German officers here provided to NATO officials.

Based largely on that informant's assessment, the commander ordered a 500-pound, satellite-guided bomb to be dropped on each truck early Friday. The vehicles exploded in a fireball that lit up the night sky for miles, incinerating many of those standing nearby.

A NATO fact-finding team estimated Saturday that about 125 people were killed in the bombing, at least two dozen of whom -- but perhaps many more -- were not insurgents. To the team, which is trying to sort out this complicated incident, mindful that the fallout could further sap public support in Afghanistan for NATO's security mission here, the target appeared to be far less clear-cut than it had to the Germans.

Anyone know how this is playing out in Germany?

[Fuchs]

Most media has decided to be anti-ISAF mission apparently. They didn't wait for good info but reported and commented with a very critical stance, even in publicly financed evening news.


The whole topic is relatively irrelevant to the upcoming elections, though. The current ruling coalition is made up by the two largest parties (one is shrinking rapidly) - and the two chancellor candidates are the current chancellor and the current foreign secretary. They're both entangled in the ISAF mission.

The coalition talks after the next election will be more important; opposition politicians are more aligned with the population and mostly critical of the ISAF entanglement.


By the way; the air strike overshadowed what was likely the biggest German post-WW2 ground fight, it happened just hours later.


That whole day was a quite black day for the Taliban up north, they lost dozens of fighters and could likely not bear several more such days at all.

I saw one report that the population isn't too angry about the dead civilians yet. Most of the Northern population doesn't bother anyway because the dead were pashtuns.

[Surferbeetle]

From today's FAZ Unklarheit über Zahl der Opfer - Jung in Erklärungsnot

Der Vorfall wird voraussichtlich auch ein Nachspiel im Bundestag haben, der am Dienstag zu einer Sondersitzung zusammenkommt. Grünen-Fraktionsvize Jürgen Trittin verlangte eine Regierungserklärung von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU). „Frau Merkel muss sich ihrer Verantwortung stellen“, sagte er und fügte hinzu: „Es kann einer deutschen Bundeskanzlerin nicht gleichgültig sein, wenn die Bundesrepublik wegen des Luftangriffs in der Europäischen Union (EU) in die Isolierung gerät, wenn die Außenminister Europas offene Kritik an dieser 'Tragödie' üben.“

Short on time so I won't be able to fully translate, but here is the gist of the passage: the Bundestag will discuss this on Tuesday and they are not happy...google has a translate function that can help get one down the road...it's not great but will usually get you pointed in the right direction.

German elections are currently taking place in the 16 lander, the 27 September parliamentary elections will be the moment of truth for Frau Merkel.

[milnews.ca]

My favourite (and under-reported) part of the WaPo article is this bit:

....One survivor, convalescing from abdominal wounds at a hospital in the nearby city of Kunduz, said he went to the site because he thought he could get free fuel. Another patient, a 10-year-old boy with shrapnel in his left leg, said he went to gawk, against his father's advice. In Kabul, the Afghan capital, relatives of two severely burned survivors being treated at an intensive-care unit said Taliban fighters forced dozens of villagers to assist in moving the bogged-down tankers.

"They came to everyone's house asking for help," said Mirajuddin, a shopkeeper who lost six of his cousins in the bombing -- none of whom, he said, was an insurgent. "They started beating people and pointing guns. They said, 'Bring your tractors and help us.' What could we do?"....

I, too, would be curious to hear how this is running in Germany.