Word: afghanistan
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Wiping away tears, German troops watched as coffins bearing the bodies of three of their fellow soldiers were driven through the German military base in northern Afghanistan last weekend. The men, aged 25, 28 and 35, had been killed in a fire-fight with Taliban militants on April 2 in the Char Darah district of Kunduz province, which has become increasingly violent in recent months. "We had all hoped this day would never come," Brigadier General Frank Leidenberger said at the ceremony. But he struck a defiant note when he added: "We will fight on and we will...
...Back in Germany, the attack served as a stark reminder of the dangers facing German troops in Afghanistan. The latest deaths bring the number of German soldiers killed in the NATO-led mission to 39 since the Afghan invasion of 2001. For Germany's new Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who cut short a holiday in South Africa to fly home following the attack, it marked the first time he had to offer condolences to the relatives of fallen soldiers - a grim task for a young, up-and-coming minister. While expressing his deep regret for the deaths...
...Guttenberg's tenatitive utterance of the "W" word unleashed a heated debate in the German media. The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper carried the headline "German Army in Afghanistan: At War," while the Süddeutsche newspaper praised the Defense Minister for his honesty, but posed the question: "What does war mean?" War is a tricky subject in Germany. According to the Defense Ministry, German soldiers are forbidden to engage in a "war of aggression" under the German constitution. Each foreign mission that includes the Bundeswehr - the German parliamentary army - is thus governed by a Bundestag mandate. In the case of Afghanistan...
...deadly battle last week also sparked a fierce row in Germany over the lack of military equipment and training for soldiers in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, retired General Harald Kujat, formerly the highest-ranking German soldier and chairman of the NATO Military Committee, accused the government of "ignorance regarding the military's needs," especially when it comes to manpower and equipment. Likewise, Reinhold Robbe, the outgoing parliamentary ombudsman for the armed forces, told the Bild newspaper on Tuesday that members of the paratrooper unit that came under attack in Kunduz had previously complained...
...nothing to do with poor equipment or bad training. "Our soldiers were well-trained - they were ambushed," said the spokesman, who declined to give his name as per policy. As part of a new parliamentary mandate, which was passed by the Bundestag in February, German troop levels in Afghanistan will also increase from 4,500 to 5,350 later this year. (Germany is already the third-largest troop contributor after the U.S. and Britain.) The new mandate places a heavier emphasis on civilian reconstruction projects and the training of Afghan soldiers, which will make German soldiers more visible - and potentially...