KSK & BND: Germany Upping Pressure in Hunt for Taliban Leaders

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Nasty German Idiot 5/27/2009 12:43:41 PM

The German government is searching for a strategy against the Taliban. The ringleaders of recent attacks on German forces are known, but local authorities have obstructed their arrest. Now Berlin is upping the pressure.

General Abdulmajid Azimi is sitting on a sofa in his office in Kunduz, proudly pointing to a list of 10 Afghan names on the table in front of him, a list he has already discussed with his counterparts in German intelligence. The names are those of Taliban leaders from the Kunduz region believed to be responsible for the majority of attacks on German soldiers. The 10 names represent 10 different problems for the authorities. "If we could catch or kill these men," says the general, "things would settle down in Kunduz very quickly."

It is only 7 a.m., but Azimi is already perspiring in the 30-degree Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) heat in Kunduz. Azimi, head of the NDS, the Afghan intelligence service, has already been in his office for an hour. The Germans count him as one of their few reliable allies in the region.

Azimi's NDS forces, in a joint operation with soldiers from Germany's KSK special forces unit, made a spectacular catch in early May. They arrested one of the Taliban commanders, a man named Abdul Razeq who is believed to have ordered several bombing attacks, after an hours-long chase through the mountains 60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of Faizabad in northeast Afghanistan.

It is one of the customs in Kunduz that Taliban leaders like Abdul Razeq either receive a warning from local authorities ahead of such an operation or, once arrested, are miraculously released after the local governor has put in a good word for them. But things were different this time.

The men from the KSK refused to let Razeq go and flew him directly to the Afghan capital Kabul on board a German military transport plane. In Kabul they turned him over to a special prosecutor with the intelligence service. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, a Christian Democrat (CDU), personally handed his Afghan counterpart a dossier based primarily on information gleaned by the BND, Germany's foreign intelligence agency, which had had the Taliban commander under surveillance for months. The dossier was intended to provide enough evidence to put Razeq in prison for years. The aim is to turn him into an example of Germany's desired approach to dealing with Afghan terrorists.

German Patience Running Out

The arrest of the presumed senior Taliban official, with the help of the KSK troops, and his subsequent transport to Kabul were carefully staged. The mission was designed as a show of strength and to send a clear message to Afghan authorities and insurgents alike: We are no longer willing to be taken advantage of. Anyone who attacks us must expect to be pursued.

For months, a group of senior German government officials have been searching for a response to the growing number of attacks on German soldiers in Afghanistan. Part of that response entails developing a more efficient security strategy for the wider area around Kunduz, which the Germans are supposed to be controlling militarily and where at least 600 German soldiers are stationed.

Jung and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who paid a visit to German troops in Afghanistan in April, are tired of constantly having to explain to soldiers why the authorities know who is attacking them, but can do little about it.

Thirty-two German soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2002. There have been about 30 attacks on German troops since the beginning of this year alone. On the day the KSK flew Razeq to Kabul, Minister Jung attended a memorial service for a 21-year-old soldier from the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. The private first class was mortally wounded on April 29 when his patrol became embroiled in a fierce gun battle.

Jung's claim that the Germans "are not involved in a war there, but in a stabilization mission" is currently being refuted day after day. The insurgents, a band comprising the Taliban, Pashtun clans and criminals, have drawn Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, into a gruelling conflict in which soldiers are shooting, killing and dying. A conflict in which the Germany army was to build bridges, plant trees and provide security has turned into a war that is also putting the Berlin government's political approach in jeopardy. Merkel has consistently praised Germany's policy of restraint as a model, partly as a counterargument to the Americans' demands for a stronger German military commitment.

The tally of an ordinary week in early May documents how serious the situation is today. In the spac

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Nasty German Idiot 6/9/2009 9:21:50 AM

NEWS 9.6. 2009 - 11 Taliban killed by German Troops

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Gunbattles do take place far more often than the public would realize, so as in the past three days in the "green belt". On Thursday, German troops were involved in their most fierce engagement since the end of World War Two und killed at least ten Taliban fighters. Just now this was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Defence spokesperson Thomas Raabe, the German Press Agency (DPA) says in its breaking news ticker.

Beyond the bank is hostile territory: Chahar Darreh

Although no engagements took place on Friday and Saturday despite a massive German presence, a German infantry platoon got into a new ambush yesterday. Having been stopped by an improvised explosive device (IED), the patrol had to dismount and blaze a path out. Two German soldiers were shot - one suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach, probably from a large calibre weapon of the enemy. And again were attackers killed: District chief Abdul Wahid Omarkhel told daily Die Welt that at least one Taliban would have been killed. Since the beginning of offensive operations in Chahar... in April, at least 26 Taliban have been killed in gunfights and dozens more were wounded. Also more than fifty insurgents were arrested and handed over to Afghan authorities. The local security forces (Kandaks of ANA's 209th Corps and the Kunduz Police) as well as the Bundeswehr (Light Infantry Battalion 292, Mechanized Infantry Battalion 391) suffered three fatalities and thirteen casualties in the same time.

Source: XXXttp://noergelecke.blogsome.com/2009/06/08/wo-krieg-und-frieden-aufeinandertreffen/

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Nasty German Idiot 6/18/2009 7:12:09 AM

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has agreed to deploy 300 further troops to Afghanistan to assist airborne surveillance in the country, a government official said on Wednesday.

The official, who requested anonymity because the cabinet meeting was still in session, said the troops would be sent to Afghanistan when NATO began the deployment of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWAC) aircraft there.

The German government had previously said it expected about 100 troops to be sent to assist the surveillance mission, which NATO defence ministers approved last Friday, and which is designed to deal with increased air traffic.

NATO commanders have long complained about the difficulty of carrying out proper surveillance in a country the size of France with poor or non-existent internal infrastructure.

Germany has about 3,800 troops in Afghanistan and there is a parliamentary mandate to send a total of 4,500 as part of the NATO mission, but an additional mandate is required for the deployment of troops to assist the surveillance mission.

The Bundestag lower house of parliament is expected to give approval in early July for the deployment.

Germany and other European countries have been under pressure from the United States to send more troops to Afghanistan, though many have been reluctant, citing public opposition to greater involvement in the country.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Sarah Marsh)

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Nasty German Idiot 6/18/2009 2:53:00 PM

Pics from today:

Afghan Police inspect the site of a bomb blast in volatile Kandahar, southern Afghanistan on 18 June 2009. A bomb planted near the provincial police headquarters, exploded on June 18, killing at least three persons. Taliban militants have vowed to increase their attacks in spring and summer, the two traditional fighting seasons in the war-torn country

Afghan Police inspect a damaged vehicle of an aid organization Mercy Corps, after it hit a road side bomb in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan on 18 June 2009. A bomb planted on a roadside in relatively peaceful northern Kunduz province, struck a vehicle of Mercy Corps, wounding three people, that injured four of its workers. Kunduz province, unlike many relatively peaceful provinces in the northern region, has seen an upsurge in Taliban attacks in the past months

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timon_phocas 7/12/2009 12:19:13 PM

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timon_phocas Thanks NGI 7/12/2009 12:20:36 PM

Thanks, NGI. I really appreciate your posting articles and images about German forces.

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Nasty German Idiot 7/12/2009 3:09:12 PM

thx, it goes on ... some pics from this weekend

A U.S. soldier of 2nd Platoon from the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division secures the area after his armoured vehicle slid down a road during a patrol in the village of Qaleh-ye-Naw in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan July 11, 2009.

A British soldier from the Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) searches a house during a patrol in a Taliban -held area of Afghanistan's Helmand province during operation Panther's Claw July 11, 2009.

A Hungarian ISAF soldier secures an area for the take off of a German helicopter transporting a wounded Afghan policeman from a military base in Pul-e-Khumri, Baghlan province of Afghanistan, Saturday, July 11, 2009. Afghan police clashed with pro-Taliban fighters in the nearby Baghlan Jalid Friday night.

Dutch General Peter van Uhm brings a visited to the Dutch troops currently deployed in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan .

A German ISAF helicopter crew waits for the transportation of a wounded Afghan policeman from a Hungarian military base in Pul-e-Khumri, Baghlan province of Afghanistan, Saturday, July 11, 2009. Afghan police clashed with pro-Taliban fighters in the near by Baghlan Jalid Friday night.

Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion depart on an escort mission from the unit base of Tora, some 50 kms north of Kabul, Afghanistan, 12th July 2009

A handout picture made available on 11 July 2009 and released by the United States Marines, shows afghan raising their national flag for the first time on Khan Neshin castle in Helmand Province Afghanistan, on 08 July 2009. This day was one of the first where Khan Neshin and the surrounding areas have seen the presense of Afghan National Security Forces

An Afghan elder talks with U.S and French soldiers during their joint patrol with Afghan troops in the village of Hajian, in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan July 12, 2009.

Two more from Northern Afghanistan:

Afghan police officers perform a counter-terrorism exercise in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, 12 July 2009. NATO defence ministers have recently approved a mission to train the Afghan police in paramilitary skills in a bid to cut the force's soaring death rate. NATO is keen to strengthen Afghanistan's security forces so that it can eventually pull its own troops out of the country

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smitty237 7/23/2009 2:04:35 AM

It does my heart good to see Aghan troops carrying rifles with their fingers OFF the trigger. This may seem like a minor thing, but what it shows me is the Afghans are responding to their training. I hope this holds true for ALL of their training.

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Nasty German Idiot 7/23/2009 6:53:00 AM

Yeah noticed that too. Especially if you look at pictures from pre-2003 it doesnt seem any Afghan that has ever heard of "gun-security" in that time (which is understandable, they learn to handle AKs in very early years)

yesterday:

Afghan police officers, recently graduated from Kunduz police academy attend a ceremony in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, 22 July 2009. NATO defence ministers have recently approved a mission to train the Afghan police in paramilitary skills in a bid to cut the force's soaring death rate. NATO is keen to strengthen Afghanistan's security forces so that it can eventually pull its own troops out of the country.

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Nasty German Idiot 7/25/2009 1:41:21 PM

25.07.2009 13:00 UTC

"For reasons of security, German ambulances in Afghanistan will no longer be marked with the Red Cross. In the last few months, these vehicles had been deliberately targeted by the Taliban, a DoD spokesperson said."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/func...

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