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  • German Special Forces Let Taliban Commander Escape

    05/19/2008 12:00 AM
    DER SPIEGEL
    NOT LICENSED TO KILL

    German Special Forces in Afghanistan Let Taliban Commander Escape
    By Susanne Koelbl
    [email protected]
    and Alexander Szandar

    German special forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in
    Afghanistan. But he escaped -- because the Germans were not authorized to
    use lethal force. The German government's hands-tied approach to the war is
    causing friction with its NATO allies.

    Unlike their Delta Force colleagues, Germany's KSK special forces are not
    authorized to use lethal force in Afghanistan except in the event of an
    attack.

    The wheat is lush and green in the fields of northern Afghanistan this
    spring. A river winding its way through the broad valley dotted with walled
    houses completes the picturesque scene. Behind one of these walls, not far
    from the town of Pol-e-Khomri, sits a man whose enemies, having named him a "target," would like to see dead. He is the Baghlan bomber.

    The Taliban commander is regarded as a brutal extremist with excellent
    connections to terror cells across the border in Pakistan. Security
    officials consider him to be one of the most dangerous players in the
    region, which is under German command as part of NATO's International
    Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. The military
    accuses him of laying roadside bombs and of sheltering suicide attackers
    prior to their bloody missions.

    He is also thought to be behind one of the deadliest attacks in
    Afghanistan's history, the Nov. 6, 2007 attack on a sugar factory in the
    northwest province of Baghlan. The attack killed 79 people, including dozens
    of children and many parliamentarians and other politicians, as they
    celebrated the factory's reopening.

    Germany's KSK special forces have been charged with capturing the terrorist,
    in cooperation with the Afghan secret service organization NDS and the
    Afghan army. The German elite soldiers were able to uncover the Taliban
    commander's location. They spent weeks studying his behavior and habits:
    when he left his house and with whom, how many men he had around him and
    what weapons they carried, the color of his turban and what vehicles he
    drove.

    At the end of March, they decided to act to seize the commander. Under the
    protection of darkness, the KSK, together with Afghan forces, advanced
    toward their target. Wearing black and equipped with night-vision goggles,
    the team came within just a few hundred meters of their target before they
    were discovered by Taliban forces.

    The dangerous terrorist escaped. It would, however, have been possible for
    the Germans to kill him -- but the KSK were not authorized to do so.
    The threat to the international relief workers and the ISAF soldiers
    stationed in the north may now be even greater than it was before. Warned of ISAF's activities and intent on taking revenge, the man and his network are
    active once again. Over 2,500 Germans are stationed between Faryab and
    Badakhshan, along with Hungarian, Norwegian and Swedish troops.

    The case has caused disquiet at the headquarters of the ISAF peacekeeping
    force in Kabul. The current strategy for fighting the enemy is to buy as
    many Taliban sympathizers as possible, to at least win them over for a while
    -- and to "eliminate" the hardliners through targeted assassinations.

    From a military point of view, the so-called targeting has been a success.
    Close to one-third of the Taliban leaders, about 150 commanders, have since
    been "neutralized," meaning they are either dead or captured. Most of the
    capture-or-kill missions, as the operations are called in military jargon,
    are undertaken by British or American special forces.

    But so far the Germans haven't wanted to take part. And that causes
    problems, because the insurgents are increasingly gaining influence
    </international/world/0,1518,547037,00.html> in the nine provinces under
    German command.

    And the extremists appear to be confident of victory. Maulawi Bashir
    Haqqani, 40, the Taliban's military commander in Kunduz, told SPIEGEL: "The
    Germans are the most important enemy in the north. If they leave their base,
    they will find booby traps and bombs waiting for them on every road. They
    will have to carry many more bodies in coffins on their shoulders if they
    don't come to the realistic conclusion that their forces must withdraw from
    our country."

    Nonetheless, even in a time of growing threats in Afghanistan, Berlin is
    sticking to its "principle of proportionality," stressed one high-ranking
    official in the Defense Ministry. A fugitive like the Baghlan bomber is not
    an aggressor and should not be shot unless necessary, the official explains.
    Soldiers from Britain's British Special Air Service or the US's Delta Force
    are less bothered about such hair-splitting. For them, this is a war in
    which it comes down to "kill or be killed," say sources in military circles
    in Kabul. The "targets" are identified, tracked down and -- often with the
    help of laser-guided weapons systems -- "eliminated."

    The Germans have considerable misgivings about such an approach. They have secretly given "clarification notes" to NATO with far-ranging instructions
    for their soldiers which expressly contradict the usual procedures: "The use
    of lethal force is prohibited unless an attack is taking place or is
    imminent." Sources in NATO circles regard the confidential document as a
    "national exception," a caveat which places restrictions on operational
    capability. The Germans, for their part, always avoid using the word caveat,
    out of diplomatic considerations vis-à-vis their allies.

    The most remarkable thing about the secret document is its stated
    justification. The German government considers its allies' approach as "not
    being in conformity with international law." Little wonder that NATO's
    mission in Afghanistan is marked by tension and friction.

    Critics accuse the Germans of achieving precisely the opposite effect of
    what they claim to be aiming for. "The Krauts are allowing the most
    dangerous people to get away and are in the process increasing the danger
    for the Afghans and for all foreign forces here," says an incredulous
    British officer at ISAF headquarters on Great Massoud Road in Kabul.

    The case of the Baghlan bomber is not the end of the story. More trouble has
    been brewing for the Germans in Afghanistan. They are actually supposed to
    be currently participating in Operation Karez in northern Afghanistan in
    conjunction with the Afghan army and the Norwegian Quick Reaction Force.

    The operation, like a mission in autumn 2007, is aimed at fighting Taliban who
    have a stronghold in the northwestern province of Badghis. The Taliban
    forces there currently include about 150 hardliners and some 500 irregular
    fighters.

    But because the area of operation, which is in Ghormach district, lies
    exactly on the border with the area under Italian command, the German
    government hesitated to deploy the reconnaissance, logistics and KSK forces
    which were originally promised by the German regional commander. It was only
    at the end of last week that German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung
    decided to approve the mission after all. At that point, Germany's allies
    had already been taking part in bloody fighting for a week.

    Last Friday, an armored infantry battalion from Augustdorf in the German
    state of North Rhine-Westphalia put on an impressive military display on a
    training ground for the benefit of the German Chief of Army Staff Hans-Otto
    Budde -- demonstrating, ironically, an operation to seize enemy combatants.
    The battalion will be relieving the Norwegian Quick Reaction Force in
    northern Afghanistan as of July 1. Then, at the latest, the Germans will be
    on the frontline.

    URL:
    * Not Licensed to Kill: German Special Forces in Afghanistan Let Taliban Commander Escape - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
    </international/world/0,1518,554033,00.html>

    And people question why the Americans do things like go into Iraq by themselves and not wait for 35 years while the UN makes up its mind! Had the US not decided to go into Bosnia, the death toll there would still be rising and the Euros would still be wringing their hands, aid convoys would still be held up for weeks by a checkpoint with two irregular soldiers, and the possibility of spreading chaos and violence would be threatening southern Europe, or perhaps it would already have arrived.

    We should replace the Germans with the French. Sarkozy has no qualms about dealing with the enemy. A battalion of French Foreign Legion paratroops would make short work of the Taliban in their area of responsibility. "Je ne regrette rien."

  • #2
    Otto Skorzeny is probably rolling over in his grave right about now.
    “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

    Comment


    • #3
      No doubt about that! But Colonel Skorzeny always referred to the General Staff as the "main enemy". Once again, it is the wankers at echelons above reality that have put hobbles on the troops ability to do their jobs, in this case, the politicians and the "powdered ones" (diplomats) are to blame. I am sure that the German SF are ready to do their jobs in a professional fashion.

      Comment


      • #4
        politicly correct warfare sucks
        "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

        Comment


        • #5
          One can sum up most problems we currently have with the German deployment in Afghanistan with this:


          This is Franz Josof Jung, CDU (Christian-Conserative), the Minister of Defence of Germany...and the worst we had since I pay attention to politcs. This guy simply refuses to do its job..some example:

          Not long ago Operation Kares started. An operation against insurgence at the western end of the German sector, and including some parts of the Italian sector. The RoE the Germans currently have ALLOWS them to do act outside their area (especially in cases like this where one has to ignore the lines of assigned sectors because the target area spans more than one at the same time). But..they have to get clearence from the MoD to do so. A thing that should not take more than a fwe phone calls. But ti took about two month. The whole operation was delayed for so long because Jung did not give a green light. The reason? The Parlament has the right to question him why he gave the clearance afterwards, i.e. he has to explain why the mission was had to be caried out..or in other words..he would have to do his job and acutally talk about Afghanistan. And since dealing with angry allies easer than dealing with annoying MoPs (the first ones can be ignored most of the time, harder with the second) he prefers to take the easy route for him.

          He hasn't lift one finger to somewhat increase the support for the deployment in Afghanistan. Neither popular nor parlamental. The rules he set are so tight, the German soldiers are not even suppossed to shoot back if attacked until they habe run out of outher options (luckily this one can be easily ignored). They don't get any heavy equipment they ask for. have to wait ages to get clearences etc etc. He "organized" everything the so he has to spent the least amount of time possible with it.

          And it will be at least 1,5 years before the next election, and even after them it is not very likly that someone else (and more importantly someone better) takes over the job.

          Comment


          • #6
            How many German troops are in Afghanistan? Are there any combat units besides special forces ex. an infantry battalion or two?

            I must agree with Col. Skorzeny; the biggest enemies are always the politicians (and in the modern world; the media) :)

            Comment


            • #7
              3500 + the recce tornado + maintance crew + 100 special forces.

              In theory the 3500 include also combat troops (for example 200 Fallschirmjäger who patroul the area around the German headquarters because of constant missle attacks), but they almost never get green light to act outside the northern sector.

              And against popular belief there also fights with insurgents in the north, though they are rarer as in the south and the enemy is much weaker (lack of local support by the people who live there), but our MoD tries to supress any informations about this. After every attack you can usually find a short news abnout it on the page of the Bundeswehr, but they always get deleted shortly afterwards (most likly when someone high up finds them). A few weeks ago there a German convoy was ambushed. The battle invovled several Dinogs and two Marders amred with a 20mm automatic cannon, which apparantly caused some casulties within the ambushers. On German side none was injured and only a Dingo was slighty damaged. But you won't hardly find any information about this anywhere..at least not from official sources. The reason for that you can find in my earlier post.

              Comment


              • #8
                This is complete B.S. Why send them to a war if they're not allowed to fight?
                F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: The Honda Accord of fighters.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by ChrisF202 View Post
                  How many German troops are in Afghanistan? Are there any combat units besides special forces ex. an infantry battalion or two?

                  I must agree with Col. Skorzeny; the biggest enemies are always the politicians (and in the modern world; the media) :)
                  “If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.”

                  -General William Tecumseh Sherman

                  -dale

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by dalem View Post
                    “If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.”

                    -General William Tecumseh Sherman

                    -dale
                    Not to hijack this thread but there was a whole article the the most recent issue of Armchair General magazine about Sherman and the media during his march through Georgia "making them so sick of war that generations will pass away before they will again appeal to it" about how he feared the media would damage his strategy and unintentionally help the Confederates. In short he would have hanged them if he could.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Tarek Morgen View Post
                      This is Franz Josof Jung, CDU (Christian-Conserative), the Minister of Defence of Germany...and the worst we had since I pay attention to politcs.
                      Oh, there have been far worse. Struck and the "accidentally deleted" files on all out-of-area missions during and after the Kosovo War. Scharping, who rigged the media ahead of the Kosovo War to support bombing operations (Operation Horseshoe). Stoltenberg, who continued to deliver ex-Bw tanks to Turkey despite an official export stop. Wörner, who sacked a 4-star general for supposedly being gay as a "security risk". Rühe's actions during Somalia and Bosnia weren't all that grand either. Strauss and Hassel also come to mind in particular, who cracked down on press freedom (Spiegel affair) and rigged procurement in the 60s (Starfighter affair).

                      And then there were the unnoticable ones. Scholz, who didn't have any effect on anything really. Apel, whose presence went unnoticed during the SRBM scuffle in the early 80s. Schröder (not to be confused with the chancellor), who was "parked" in this position in the grand coalition in the 60s after failing to be nominated for chancellor.

                      Effectively, the number of "good" defence ministers we've had is rather short. Schmidt was probably a better defence minister than chancellor later on. Leber was rather well-liked, and successfully transformed and increased the Bundeswehr in the 70s, and faced a number of tough decisions during that time (not shooting down a civilian airliner in '72, retiring Lw generals for nazi contacts, a number of espionage affairs).
                      Last edited by kato; 29 May 08,, 10:14.

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                      • #12
                        m..guess you are right. One often tends to see active politicans more negative than past ones. He's still a pretty bad one imho.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          In addition to the pointlessness of sending these guys if they cant fight, can you imagine what its doing to their moral.
                          “Oh look Terry! Oh wait, I cant shoot him….RAGE!!!” one very unhappy German.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by VarSity View Post
                            In addition to the pointlessness of sending these guys if they cant fight, can you imagine what its doing to their moral.
                            “Oh look Terry! Oh wait, I cant shoot him….RAGE!!!” one very unhappy German.
                            You know many Germans named Terry?;)
                            In Iran people belive pepsi stands for pay each penny save israel. -urmomma158
                            The Russian Navy is still a threat, but only to those unlucky enough to be Russian sailors.-highsea

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              This is not the first time, that a special force unit don't have the right to use lethal force, It happen to a french unit a the begining of the war... It's due to political frictions inside NATO

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