Afghanistan Conflict Monitor

One Year After the Kunduz Air Strike, No Sign of a Full Investigation

One Year After the Kunduz Air Strike, No Sign of a Full Investigation, Spiegel Online, 30 August 2010

EXCERPT: "After the deadly German-ordered air strike in Kunduz on Sept. 4, 2009, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised a full investigation. One year on, questions about the bombing in Afghanistan are still unanswered and many of the details remain classified. The chancellor had made a personal commitment to resolving the case. On Sept. 8, 2009, after waffling for four days following the horrific bombing of two tanker trucks stuck on a sandbar in the Kunduz River, Angela Merkel finally made a clear statement. 'For me and the entire government, it is a matter of course that the incident will be fully resolved,' the chancellor promised the nation. The German military, she added, would 'do everything within its power to contribute to the investigation.' Merkel's personal pledge was completely warranted. On Sept. 4, 2009, German Colonel Georg Klein ordered the bombing of two tanker trucks in Afghanistan's Kunduz Province. The attack killed up to 142 people, including many civilians. It was an incident that brought home the reality of the war to Germany. But the government did everything it could to ensure that this reality would reach Germany in highly filtered form. The Kunduz air strike was covered up, kept quiet and downplayed as much as possible. Even today, little has changed."

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Kunduz bombing victim: "The Germans lied to all of us", Spiegel Online, 30 August 2010
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Germany Drops Kunduz Raid Probe

Germany Drops Kunduz Raid Probe, Al Jazeera, 20 August 2010

EXCERPT: "Germany's military has said it will not pursue disciplinary action against a German commander who called in an air raid that killed dozens of civilians in northern Afghanistan last year. A preliminary investigation found no evidence that a breach of discipline had taken place following the order by Colonel George Klein for US aircraft to bomb two fuel tankers stolen by the Taliban near the city of Kunduz. The German army said on Thursday that it had concluded its investigation against Klein over the incident 'because his actions complied with the relevant criteria under international humanitarian law governing conflict'. Federal prosecutors decided in April to drop a criminal investigation against Klein. A Nato fact-finding team estimated a day after the bombing that about 125 people had been killed and that at least 24, but perhaps many more, of those killed had been civilians gathering fuel from the tankers."

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Related articles:
Why Germany is a nation in conflict, TIME, 20 August 2010
Misguided Esprit de Corps lets officer off the hook, Spiegel Online, 20 August 2010
German military drops case against Kunduz airstrike colonel, Deutsche Welle, 19 August 2010
Germany is paying $5,000 in compensation to Kunduz bombing victims' families, ABC News, 10 August 2010

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German offensive aims to repair security, reputation, 11 August 2010
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Merkel apologises for Afghan airstrike, 1 December 2009

Suicide Attack Kills Seven Afghan Police

Suicide Attack Kills Seven Afghan Police, AFP, 5 August 2010

EXCERPT: "A suicide attacker rammed a car bomb into a joint Afghan-NATO military convoy in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing seven police and injuring five civilians, officials said. The officers and soldiers were on a patrol in the insurgent-troubled Imamsaheb district of northeastern Kunduz province when they came under attack, district administrator Mohammad Ayoub told AFP. The interior ministry confirmed the toll of dead and wounded, while NATO said some coalition troops had been injured, without giving further details. Ayoub said the bomber was driving an explosives-laden car, which detonated on hitting the convoy."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Pakistani school seeks to turn boys from Taliban, AFP, 4 August 2010
Taliban kills 220 civilians in July despite new "code of conduct", WireUpdate, 4 August 2010
In Afghanistan, no shortage of suicide bombers, NPR, 28 July 2010
ISI runs, controls network of suicide bombers in Afghanistan, Sify, 26 July 2010

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Afghan suicide bombing kills 40, 10 June 2010
Over 60 percent of suicide bombers are physically disabled, 22 October 2008
Teen describes madrasah effort to make him a suicide bomber, 6 June 2008
Suicide bombings in Afghanistan increasing; Attackers tend to be "young, poor and uneducated", 11 September 2007

German Troops Battle Growing Northern Insurgency

German Troops Face Pitched Battles in Afghanistan as Insurgency Spreads, Times Online, 3 May 2010

EXCERPT: "German troops are fighting the first pitched battles witnessed by the Bundeswehr since 1945 in the face of a growing Taleban insurgency in the north of Afghanistan. Security has deteriorated in areas such as Badghis province in the northwest, Kunduz, Baghlan and some parts of Takhar and Badakhshan provinces. [...] What is alarming for Western commanders and the Afghan Government are signs that the northern insurgency is gaining a hold outside the Pashtun ethnic community. Pashtuns are a minority in the Tajik-dominated north. General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander, is to send 5,000 extra US troops under German command to the north by September and announced last week that 56 helicopters would be sent to the area. Speaking in Germany, General McChrystal warned ten days ago: 'The situation in the north will become dangerous, in parts very dangerous.'"

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Germany sets up meeting next week of nations with troops in north Afghanistan, The Associated Press via Winnipeg Free Press, 4 May 2010

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Merkel tries to beat back opposition to Afghanistan, 22 April 2010
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German Prosecutors Drop Case Against Colonel

German Prosecutors Drop Case Against Kunduz Airstrike Colonel, Deutsche Welle, 19 April 2010

EXCERPT: "German state prosecutors on Monday said they had closed the case against Colonel Klein, the officer who ordered the controversial airstrike near Kunduz in September 2009. According to the prosecution, neither Klein nor any of the other officers present before the attack were in a position to know that there were still civilians at the site at the time of the airstrikes. 'On the contrary, after a thorough assessment of the situation, they could assume that there were only insurgents present,' the Karlsruhe-based prosecution said in a statement on Monday. Colonel Klein had, therefore, not acted in violation of either the international or German criminal code, the prosecution said. Ordering the airstrike on two fuel trucks that had been hijacked by Taliban insurgents did not qualify as an illegal method of warfare. On September 4, 2009, Klein had requested a NATO airstrike against the two trucks fearing they would be used to attack a German troop base nearby."

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Related articles:
Senior conservative calls for end to Kunduz inquiry, The Local, 19 April 2010
Merkel "only now realizes the dimensions of Afghanistan", Spiegel Online, 19 April 2010

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Kunduz airstrike inquiry begins in Berlin, 22 January 2010
German compensation for airstrike victims moves forward, 15 January 2010
Germany's DM denies new accusations on airstrike, 14 December 2009
Merkel apologises for Afghan airstrike, 1 December 2009

Guttenberg Makes Snap Visit to Afghanistan

Guttenberg Makes Snap Visit to Afghanistan, The Local, 14 April 2010

EXCERPT: "Visiting troops at their headquarters in northern Afghanistan, Guttenberg also said he wanted to examine the situation on the ground to see whether soldiers had the necessary equipment and backing. 'To me, it’s important to make clear to soldiers on the ground that the political leadership stands behind them,' Guttenberg said. It was also vital to highlight the importance of the Afghanistan mission to the German public and ensure 'we don’t forget soldiers on the ground, but rather give them support,' he added. Guttenberg’s visit came as Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected a call by opposition Social Democrats leader Sigmar Gabriel for a new parliamentary mandate reflecting the fact the government had finally started referring to the Afghan campaign as a 'war'."

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Related articles:
Afghans demand compensation for German raid, The Washington Post, 14 April 2010
Afghanistan's Kunduz: from placid spot to security nightmare, The Earth Times, 14 April 2010
German soldiers face new enemy in Kunduz, Spiegel Online, 12 April 2010
German military could send more troops abroad, The Associated Press, 12 April 2010

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Merkel defends Afghan policy at soldiers' memorial, 9 April 2010
German soldiers complain of insufficient training, 7 April 2010
Kunduz airstrike inquiry begins in Berlin, 22 January 2010
German compensation for airstrike victims moves forward, 15 January 2010
Germany's DM denies new accusations on airstrike, 14 December 2009

Germans Mistakenly Kill Afghan Soldiers

Germans Mistakenly Kill Afghan Soldiers, AFP, 3 April 2010

EXCERPT: "German soldiers called in as reinforcements following a Taliban ambush mistakenly killed five Afghan government soldiers, officials said Saturday. A German armoured personnel carrier was en route late Friday to reinforce troops who had been engaged in a fierce battle with Taliban fighters since the morning at Chahar Dara near the city of Kunduz. They opened fire at a civilian car which approached their patrol, killing five Afghan soldiers who were inside, German military officials said. Afghan defence ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi confirmed the incident but said six soldiers lost their lives. The ministry 'condemns' the 'incident,' it said in statement. 'The incident is under investigation,' Azimi told AFP. Three German soldiers were killed in Friday's engagement with Taliban fighters and eight were wounded, four seriously. Kunduz, in the northeast of the country, is troubled by Taliban and other insurgent groups while much of northern Afghanistan is relatively peaceful."

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Related articles:
"More nasty surprises" to come from Afghanistan, Spiegel Online, 6 April 2010
Guttenberg says German troops will stay in Afghan "war", Deutsche Welle, 5 April 2010
Merkel calls Karzai over soldiers killed by friendly fire, The Canadian Press, 4 April 2010

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Kunduz airstrike inquiry begins in Berlin, 22 January 2010
Germany seeks bipartisan backing for Afghan mission, 19 January 2010
Merkel apologises for Afghan airstrike, 1 December 2009
Germany approves extension of Bundeswehr missions, 18 November 2009

Email Drags Merkel into Kunduz Affair

Email Drags Merkel into Kunduz Affair, The Local, 25 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office was told within hours of the Kunduz air strike that civilians had been killed, despite the government’s insistence for days afterwards that only Taliban fighters had died, a report said Thursday. Bringing Merkel under direct pressure for the first time in the affair, news magazine Der Spiegel has cited an email sent by the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to the Chancellery that stated: 'The devastating thing about this is that scores of civilians have died (counts vary from 50 to 100).' The email, sent on September 4 at 8:06 am, about nine hours after the strike happened, was headlined: 'Crowd killed in explosion in Afghanistan.' Two days after the air strike ordered by German Col. Georg Klein on two hijacked fuel trucks, then Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung maintained that according to his information 'only Taliban terrorists' were killed. The issue created a political storm in Germany just a few weeks before a national election, with the question of civilian deaths central to the public anger over the air strike, now known to have killed 142 people, many of them civilians."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Afghan deaths return to haunt Merkel, Euronews, 26 March 2010
German Defense Ministry sought to obscure the truth, Der Spiegel, 18 March 2010
Ministry calls lawyers' demands for Kunduz bombing victims unrealistic, The Local, 15 March 2010

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German army withheld information from US pilots, 2 February 2010
Germany's DM denies new accusations on airstrike, 14 December 2009
Merkel apologises for Afghan airstrike, 1 December 2009
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NATO Plans "Northern Afghanistan Offensive"

NATO Plans "Northern Afghanistan Offensive", AFP, 18 March 2010

EXCERPT: "The NATO military alliance is planning a large-scale offensive in northern Afghanistan this year against Taliban insurgents, a senior German general was quoted as saying on Thursday. 'There will definitely be an operation up there in Kunduz (province),' General Bruno Kasdorf, chief of staff in the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, told the German ARD public radio. He declined to give details but said that it would be on a 'similar' scale to the offensive currently underway in the southern province of Helmand involving 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops. 'I don't want to say that it will be the same scale and size as what we are seeing now in Helmand. But definitely something similar,' he said."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US attacks brewing in north Afghanistan, Press TV, 18 March 2010
Return of the warlords, The Diplomat, 16 March 2010
Taliban attack foreign troops in N Afghanistan, ONLINE, 15 March 2010

Related posts:
Taliban open northern front in Afghanistan, 27 November 2009
Heaviest fighting kills 130 insurgents in north, 9 November 2009
Militants deepen their foothold in Afghanistan's north, 22 October 2009
Taliban growth in north threatens to expand war, 31 August 2009

NATO Airstrike Kills Seven Afghan Police

NATO Airstrike Kills Seven Afghan Police, AFP, 18 February 2010

EXCERPT: "A NATO air strike mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded two others in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, hospital and government officials said. The NATO-run International Security Assistance Force confirmed an 'incident' but a spokesman told AFP the military was 'still tracking down what happened' in Kunduz province, where Taliban violence has recently picked up. 'Around 2:30 pm (1000 GMT), an Afghan army, police and NATO patrol were attacked by Taliban in Imam Sahib district,' Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP in the capital Kabul. NATO called in an air strike and 'the Afghan forces were bombed by mistake,' the spokesman said. 'Seven policemen were killed, including two officers, and two policemen were wounded,' he said. The director of the main hospital in Kunduz, Noor Ull-Haq Hakimi, confirmed that the bodies of seven policemen were brought in along with two who were wounded after the incident."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
A look at NATO combat rules in Afghanistan, The Associated Press, 17 February 2010
Five civilians killed, two injured in NATO airstrike in Afghanistan, China View, 16 February 2010
NATO airstrike kills 4 Afghan troops, Los Angeles Times, 31 January 2010

Related posts:
NATO rockets kill 12 Afghan civilians, 15 February 2010
Kunduz airstrike inquiry begins in Berlin, 22 January 2010
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NATO airstrike "kills three Afghan civilians", 18 December 2009
30 civilians killed in NATO strike: Commission, 14 September 2009