Four days after Sen. Barack Obama called on a reluctant Germany to get more involved in Afghanistan, German commentators are still debating who has a clearer vision of Afghanistan's real needs. A column of German vehicles serving as part of the Quick Reaction Force in Afghanistan. The estimated 200,000 people who gathered in Berlin last Thursday to hear US presidential candidate Barack Obama speak (more...)are a testament to both his personal popularity in Germany and the country's hope that US voters will embrace his promise of change when they go to the polls in November. When it comes to the touchy subject of NATO obligations and Afghanistan, however, Germans were hoping Obama's speech would tread lightly (more...). "Obama should only ask of us what we are able to deliver," Niels Annen, a member of Germany's federal parliament within the left wing of the SPD, told SPIEGEL ONLINE three days before Obama spoke. In the end, though, Obama did not steer clear of the topic, saying: "This is the moment when we must renew our resolve ... in Afghanistan. .... America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda...."
Four days after Sen. Barack Obama called on a reluctant Germany to get more involved in Afghanistan, German commentators are still debating who has a clearer vision of Afghanistan's real needs.
A column of German vehicles serving as part of the Quick Reaction Force in Afghanistan. The estimated 200,000 people who gathered in Berlin last Thursday to hear US presidential candidate Barack Obama speak (more...)are a testament to both his personal popularity in Germany and the country's hope that US voters will embrace his promise of change when they go to the polls in November.
When it comes to the touchy subject of NATO obligations and Afghanistan, however, Germans were hoping Obama's speech would tread lightly (more...). "Obama should only ask of us what we are able to deliver," Niels Annen, a member of Germany's federal parliament within the left wing of the SPD, told SPIEGEL ONLINE three days before Obama spoke.
In the end, though, Obama did not steer clear of the topic, saying: "This is the moment when we must renew our resolve ... in Afghanistan. .... America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda...."
More and more Afghan civilians have been killed by NATO in recent months, as ISAF solidiers have upped their fight against the Taliban. Some of the latest victims, SPIEGEL has learned, were killed in a NATO training exercise. ISAF soldiers on patrol in southern Afghanistan. More and more civilians are losing their lives in Afghanistan, as NATO troops have upped their fight against Taliban insurgents. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, at least 97 civilians have been killed in seven Afghan provinces this year alone during anti-terror operations. Among the most recent victims are three Afghan farmers who were killed by NATO troops earlier this month while harvesting melons. They came under fire during a training exercise, SPIEGEL has learned, and not as previously claimed during an attack on Taliban forces. The farmers -- and it is believed a child -- were killed on July 20 in the province of Paktika, south-east Afghanistan, by mortar grenades fired by NATO-led troops of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
More and more Afghan civilians have been killed by NATO in recent months, as ISAF solidiers have upped their fight against the Taliban. Some of the latest victims, SPIEGEL has learned, were killed in a NATO training exercise.
ISAF soldiers on patrol in southern Afghanistan. More and more civilians are losing their lives in Afghanistan, as NATO troops have upped their fight against Taliban insurgents. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, at least 97 civilians have been killed in seven Afghan provinces this year alone during anti-terror operations.
Among the most recent victims are three Afghan farmers who were killed by NATO troops earlier this month while harvesting melons. They came under fire during a training exercise, SPIEGEL has learned, and not as previously claimed during an attack on Taliban forces.
The farmers -- and it is believed a child -- were killed on July 20 in the province of Paktika, south-east Afghanistan, by mortar grenades fired by NATO-led troops of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
