German minister urges more support at home for soldiers in Afghanistan, brings home 3 dead

Germany urges support for soldiers in Afghanistan

BERLIN — A German minister urged the country’s public to show more understanding and support for their troops in Afghanistan after German soldiers accidentally killed six Afghan soldiers in a friendly fire incident.

Development Minister Dirk Niebel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the public should have “more comprehension for the need that they sometimes have to defend themselves preemptively.”

The incident occurred on the same day that three German troops died and eight were wounded in fighting with insurgents in Afghanistan.

Niebel said German soldiers can’t understand the lack of comprehension by the German public and why they have to fear prosecution at home for defending themselves.

Niebel met with German soldiers in Afghanistan on Saturday after visiting development projects and was flying back to Germany on Sunday with three coffins from Friday’s fighting.

The presence of some 4,000 German troops in Afghanistan is increasingly unpopular in Germany, where politicians stop short of calling military operations there a war.

Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was holding a news conference Sunday and was expected to face tough questions over the deadly friendly fire incident Friday night in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan.

There was still conflicting information about what happened. The German military maintains the vehicles carrying the Afghan soldiers could not be recognized as such, but the commander of Afghan forces in northern Afghanistan, Gen. Murad Ani, however, said both vehicles were clearly marked.

The Afghan military puts the death toll at six, the Germans speak of five troops killed.

Kunduz is also where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an airstrike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians.

Chancellor Angela Merkel called Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday to express her condolences over the accidental killing of Afghan troops, and he expressed sympathy regarding the deaths of the three German soldiers.

In a separate development, 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” for operations in Afghanistan.

Kujat told daily Welt am Sonntag that crucial equipment for a successful mission is missing and there aren’t enough boots on the ground.

The current mandate — allowing a maximum of 5,000 soldiers — is a political compromise “which is not reflecting the real operational needs.” The government lacks a coherent strategy, he said.

Kujat — who was Germany’s top soldier between 2000 and 2002 before moving to the NATO headquarters — also said he expects more brazen attacks by the Taliban on the German military in northern Afghanistan.

So far, 39 German soldiers have lost their life in Afghanistan, 22 of them in combat or following bomb attacks.