Afghanistan missions expose political rift in Germany

BERLIN -- Differences have developed in Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition over German troops in Afghanistan, with her Social Democratic partners joining opposition parties in demanding an end to German participation in the US counterinsurgency mission there.

The new Social Democrat stand on the US mission, which is separate from NATO's work in Afghanistan, was prompted by the deaths of three German soldiers in a suicide attack there Saturday.

Niels Annen, a leading Social Democrat, and Jürgen Trittin, a leader of the opposition Greens, said this week that the American counterinsurgency mission was hindering civilian reconstruction because of what they called a heavy-handed approach by the US military on the ground that was alienating Afghans.

But Merkel's Christian Democrats, who regard the two missions in Afghanistan as strengthening the trans-Atlantic relationship, cautioned yesterday that the government should not make any quick decisions about ending the mandate for the US counterinsurgency mission, Operation Enduring Freedom.

"We have to see the developments over the coming months," said Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag and a leading member of Merkel's conservative bloc. "We have until the autumn, when the mandate for both missions comes up for renewal, to calmly examine the situation."

Operation Enduring Freedom, established after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has been concentrated mostly in the south and southeast of Afghanistan, where the Taliban regrouped after they were ousted from power by US-led forces in December 2001. German elite commando troops are serving with the mission.

Separately, 3,200 German troops are deployed under North Atlantic Treaty Organization command to the International Security Assistance Force. The force, which NATO has led since 2003, has started working closely with the US mission.

The cooperation has now come under scrutiny by German politicians.

"The German soldiers are being identified with the way the US led the war," Annen said in an interview. "In my opinion, the mandate for Operation Enduring Freedom should not be extended."

Trittin, whose Greens were in office with the Social Democrats when they made the decision in 2001 to send German troops to the American mission, said that the actions of US special forces were leading to the deaths of civilians and that German participation should be ended.

Germany has the third-largest force serving in Afghanistan, after the United States and Britain. Twenty-one German soldiers have been killed there.

NATO has 36,000 troops from 37 countries deployed throughout Afghanistan. Its main task is to establish small teams of civilian and military personnel to provide security for aid workers and help with reconstruction work in the provinces.

While the opposition Left Party wants all German soldiers withdrawn, the Social Democrats and the Greens say that participation in the NATO mission should continue but that it should focus on peacekeeping and providing security for Afghans and aid workers.

NATO officials, however, say that Taliban insurgents make no distinction between the US-led mission and the NATO mission.

"There is no evidence from the troops that the insurgents make any distinction between the two missions," said a NATO diplomat who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.