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The Usual Disclaimer;
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/15/news/germany.php
Bomb in Afghanistan kills 3 Germans in diplomatic convoy
By Judy Dempsey
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
BERLIN: Three German security officers responsible for protecting the German ambassador to Afghanistan were killed Wednesday by a remote-controlled roadside bomb near Kabul, further fueling a debate over Berlin's involvement in a country where violence has increased along with a resurgence of the Taliban.
The deaths Wednesday brought to 24 the number of Germans who have been killed in Afghanistan since German troops joined the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in 2001 - an involvement that runs the risk of creating serious tensions within the governing coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel should the conflict continue and German casualties mount.
The explosion Wednesday near the officers' convoy, which was traveling on an unpaved road about 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, southeast of the Afghan capital, turned one of the two vehicles on its side and left it badly damaged. A wounded officer was being treated by the German military at a base in Kabul but his life did not appear to be in danger.
The police officers were apparently on their way to a training session at the time of the explosion and Wolfgang Schäuble, the German interior minister, said that they were traveling in a "particularly well-protected vehicle." In a statement, Schäuble characterized the explosion as an "underhanded attack."
Schäuble also said that the Federal Crime Office of Germany was sending experts to Afghanistan to help investigate the explosion.
Later, French troops with anti-mine equipment and U.S. troops arrived at the scene of the attack. The Afghan police kept reporters from getting close to the site, while forensic experts collected evidence.
Merkel, who described the attack as "cowardly," wants the German government to stand firm and to keep in Afghanistan the 3,200 German troops serving under the NATO flag, but in the north, away from where most of the fighting is taking place.
Merkel has repeatedly refused to send troops to the south, where British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers serving under NATO, with the support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom, are trying to fend off the Taliban.
After a bitter debate over Afghanistan this year that exposed strains within the German coalition, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, voted to lend support there by sending Tornado reconnaissance aircraft to the south.
But Franz-Josef Jung, the German defense minister, turned down a recent request from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the secretary general of NATO, for Berlin to provide transport helicopters for an offensive by the military alliance.
A German Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday, "We need six of them for the northern region of Afghanistan and we need the other six helicopters for training purposes back in Germany."
Since 2001, 652 NATO soldiers have died in Afghanistan, including 427 Americans, 70 Britons and 66 Canadians who were killed in combat. German soldiers were killed by suicide bomb attacks or roadside bombs, according to NATO and the German Defense Ministry.
But Merkel's coalition partners, the Social Democrats, are beginning to waver over the Afghan mission itself. While the party leadership is still committed to keeping troops in Afghanistan, the rank and file are growing increasingly skeptical, if not critical, over such missions in general and the Afghan peacekeeping mission in particular.
A recent poll among the party membership showed that fewer than half its members supported military missions abroad. Those divisions are likely to sharpen at the party congress in October, just before the Bundestag debates the renewal of mandates for German soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
The Social Democrats are also divided over how to deal with the Taliban.
Kurt Beck, the leader of the Social Democrats, suggested in April that the Taliban be invited to peace talks, only to be criticized and called naïve by his conservative rivals. This week, Thomas Steg, the government spokesman for the Social Democrats, suggested that "moderate and reasonable" Taliban be involved in the reconstruction process.
Merkel's conservatives rejected the idea.
"This is not the time to think about pulling out of Afghanistan, nor should we engage the Taliban," said Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a legislator and foreign policy expert for the Christian Social Union, the sister party of the Christian Democratic Union of Merkel.
"A moderate Taliban is a contradiction in terms," he said. "The idea of talking to the Taliban, who destroyed Afghanistan and is now doing its best to destroy attempts at nation-building, was grotesque."
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his deputy, Gernot Erler, both Social Democrats, have staunchly defended the position of the government. But other Social Democrats are concerned about the impact that the new Left Party, led by Oskar Lafontaine, is having on the debate over Afghanistan.
The Left Party has consistently opposed German troops serving in Afghanistan and has even called for the withdrawal of all 7,440 troops that are participating in missions in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Lebanon and the Horn of Africa.
This strong, pacifist stance appears to be putting a dent in the support of the Social Democrats. According to a new poll published Wednesday by the Allensbach Institute, a leading polling organization, support for the Social Democrats has reached a historic low level. If elections were held this Sunday, 27 percent would vote for the Social Democrats and 36.8 percent for Merkel's conservative bloc.
The Left Party - established just 18 months ago and including the Party of Democratic Socialists, the successor to East Germany's former communists, West German trade unionists and disgruntled Social Democrats - would win more than 11 percent of the vote.
Renate Köcher, director of Allensbach, said the Social Democrats lacked a strong leadership and strong policies, and was competing with the Left Party to represent "the little people."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/15/news/germany.php
Bomb in Afghanistan kills 3 Germans in diplomatic convoy
By Judy Dempsey
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
BERLIN: Three German security officers responsible for protecting the German ambassador to Afghanistan were killed Wednesday by a remote-controlled roadside bomb near Kabul, further fueling a debate over Berlin's involvement in a country where violence has increased along with a resurgence of the Taliban.
The deaths Wednesday brought to 24 the number of Germans who have been killed in Afghanistan since German troops joined the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in 2001 - an involvement that runs the risk of creating serious tensions within the governing coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel should the conflict continue and German casualties mount.
The explosion Wednesday near the officers' convoy, which was traveling on an unpaved road about 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, southeast of the Afghan capital, turned one of the two vehicles on its side and left it badly damaged. A wounded officer was being treated by the German military at a base in Kabul but his life did not appear to be in danger.
The police officers were apparently on their way to a training session at the time of the explosion and Wolfgang Schäuble, the German interior minister, said that they were traveling in a "particularly well-protected vehicle." In a statement, Schäuble characterized the explosion as an "underhanded attack."
Schäuble also said that the Federal Crime Office of Germany was sending experts to Afghanistan to help investigate the explosion.
Later, French troops with anti-mine equipment and U.S. troops arrived at the scene of the attack. The Afghan police kept reporters from getting close to the site, while forensic experts collected evidence.
Merkel, who described the attack as "cowardly," wants the German government to stand firm and to keep in Afghanistan the 3,200 German troops serving under the NATO flag, but in the north, away from where most of the fighting is taking place.
Merkel has repeatedly refused to send troops to the south, where British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers serving under NATO, with the support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom, are trying to fend off the Taliban.
After a bitter debate over Afghanistan this year that exposed strains within the German coalition, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, voted to lend support there by sending Tornado reconnaissance aircraft to the south.
But Franz-Josef Jung, the German defense minister, turned down a recent request from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the secretary general of NATO, for Berlin to provide transport helicopters for an offensive by the military alliance.
A German Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday, "We need six of them for the northern region of Afghanistan and we need the other six helicopters for training purposes back in Germany."
Since 2001, 652 NATO soldiers have died in Afghanistan, including 427 Americans, 70 Britons and 66 Canadians who were killed in combat. German soldiers were killed by suicide bomb attacks or roadside bombs, according to NATO and the German Defense Ministry.
But Merkel's coalition partners, the Social Democrats, are beginning to waver over the Afghan mission itself. While the party leadership is still committed to keeping troops in Afghanistan, the rank and file are growing increasingly skeptical, if not critical, over such missions in general and the Afghan peacekeeping mission in particular.
A recent poll among the party membership showed that fewer than half its members supported military missions abroad. Those divisions are likely to sharpen at the party congress in October, just before the Bundestag debates the renewal of mandates for German soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
The Social Democrats are also divided over how to deal with the Taliban.
Kurt Beck, the leader of the Social Democrats, suggested in April that the Taliban be invited to peace talks, only to be criticized and called naïve by his conservative rivals. This week, Thomas Steg, the government spokesman for the Social Democrats, suggested that "moderate and reasonable" Taliban be involved in the reconstruction process.
Merkel's conservatives rejected the idea.
"This is not the time to think about pulling out of Afghanistan, nor should we engage the Taliban," said Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a legislator and foreign policy expert for the Christian Social Union, the sister party of the Christian Democratic Union of Merkel.
"A moderate Taliban is a contradiction in terms," he said. "The idea of talking to the Taliban, who destroyed Afghanistan and is now doing its best to destroy attempts at nation-building, was grotesque."
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his deputy, Gernot Erler, both Social Democrats, have staunchly defended the position of the government. But other Social Democrats are concerned about the impact that the new Left Party, led by Oskar Lafontaine, is having on the debate over Afghanistan.
The Left Party has consistently opposed German troops serving in Afghanistan and has even called for the withdrawal of all 7,440 troops that are participating in missions in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Lebanon and the Horn of Africa.
This strong, pacifist stance appears to be putting a dent in the support of the Social Democrats. According to a new poll published Wednesday by the Allensbach Institute, a leading polling organization, support for the Social Democrats has reached a historic low level. If elections were held this Sunday, 27 percent would vote for the Social Democrats and 36.8 percent for Merkel's conservative bloc.
The Left Party - established just 18 months ago and including the Party of Democratic Socialists, the successor to East Germany's former communists, West German trade unionists and disgruntled Social Democrats - would win more than 11 percent of the vote.
Renate Köcher, director of Allensbach, said the Social Democrats lacked a strong leadership and strong policies, and was competing with the Left Party to represent "the little people."
