With girls' schools being closed and attacks on their troops on the rise in Afghanistan, many Germans wonder whether the deployment of their armed forces in the Hinda Kush makes sense anymore. Still, the Taliban cannot be allowed to prevail in the region. According to Colonel Georg Klein, the kind of yellow plastic containers you can buy at the store currently pose the greatest threat to German soldiers in Afghanistan. The canisters, with a capacity of about 10 liters (2.6 gallons), may have once contained motor oil or pesticide. But then someone filled them with nails and added explosive material and a fuse. The repurposed yellow canisters are now hidden by the roadside, waiting for Germans. German Bundeswehr army snipers in Kunduz: The Germans would also share some of the blame for the disasters that would unfold in the wake of a German withdrawal from Afghanistan. The colonel even has a film to illustrate his point. He is sitting with a group of visitors in the darkened conference room at the German field base in Kunduz, Afghanistan. His most important guest is Peter Struck, the head of the center-left Social Democratic Party's parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, and Germany's defense minister from July 2002 until November 2005. Struck has always been in favor of the deployment of German troops to Afghanistan, and he is the man who famously said: "Germany is also being defended at the Hindu Kush (mountains, in Afghanistan)." It's 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 4, and Struck is now in Afghanistan himself. The colonel's film depicts one of the Bundeswehr's Fox armored personnel carriers, with a red cross on a white background painted onto its rear. The Fox, driving along Afghan road, is coincidentally being filmed by someone in a vehicle traveling behind it. Suddenly a yellow fireball appears to the left of the Fox, the image shifts and the picture goes black.
With girls' schools being closed and attacks on their troops on the rise in Afghanistan, many Germans wonder whether the deployment of their armed forces in the Hinda Kush makes sense anymore. Still, the Taliban cannot be allowed to prevail in the region.
According to Colonel Georg Klein, the kind of yellow plastic containers you can buy at the store currently pose the greatest threat to German soldiers in Afghanistan. The canisters, with a capacity of about 10 liters (2.6 gallons), may have once contained motor oil or pesticide. But then someone filled them with nails and added explosive material and a fuse. The repurposed yellow canisters are now hidden by the roadside, waiting for Germans.
German Bundeswehr army snipers in Kunduz: The Germans would also share some of the blame for the disasters that would unfold in the wake of a German withdrawal from Afghanistan. The colonel even has a film to illustrate his point. He is sitting with a group of visitors in the darkened conference room at the German field base in Kunduz, Afghanistan. His most important guest is Peter Struck, the head of the center-left Social Democratic Party's parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, and Germany's defense minister from July 2002 until November 2005. Struck has always been in favor of the deployment of German troops to Afghanistan, and he is the man who famously said: "Germany is also being defended at the Hindu Kush (mountains, in Afghanistan)." It's 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 4, and Struck is now in Afghanistan himself.
The colonel's film depicts one of the Bundeswehr's Fox armored personnel carriers, with a red cross on a white background painted onto its rear. The Fox, driving along Afghan road, is coincidentally being filmed by someone in a vehicle traveling behind it. Suddenly a yellow fireball appears to the left of the Fox, the image shifts and the picture goes black.
Insurgent violence hit record levels in Afghanistan last week, reaching its highest level since 2001 as the commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan warned Thursday that he expects "tough months" ahead. Attacks soared 59 percent from January through May from the first five months of 2008, according to a report by NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). All told, insurgent violence climbed 33 percent in 2008, they said. ISAF statistics show the number of insurgent attacks in May surpassing the 1,400-mark for only the second time since January 2007. Monthly attacks first topped 1,400 in August 2008, according to the report, which includes data of attacks on US and NATO forces as well as Afghan military, police, government and civilian targets. "The past week was the highest level of security incidents in Afghanistan's post-liberation history," General David Petraeus said in a speech in Kabul, referring to the Taliban's ouster from power in late 2001.
Attacks soared 59 percent from January through May from the first five months of 2008, according to a report by NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
All told, insurgent violence climbed 33 percent in 2008, they said.
ISAF statistics show the number of insurgent attacks in May surpassing the 1,400-mark for only the second time since January 2007. Monthly attacks first topped 1,400 in August 2008, according to the report, which includes data of attacks on US and NATO forces as well as Afghan military, police, government and civilian targets.
"The past week was the highest level of security incidents in Afghanistan's post-liberation history," General David Petraeus said in a speech in Kabul, referring to the Taliban's ouster from power in late 2001.
Due to the increasing attacks on the supply lines to Afghanistan from the port of Karachi in Pakistan through Quetta to Kandahar and through Peshavar to Kabul, the U.S. looked for new supply lines. These were found in the north. Back in February Tajikistan and Uzbekistan allowed the U.S. and NATO to transport non-military goods (an oxymoron?) across their borders. The northern routes goes from Latvia at the Baltic sea via rail through Russia and Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and from there to Afghanistan. Predictably those new supply lines are now coming under attack.
Due to the increasing attacks on the supply lines to Afghanistan from the port of Karachi in Pakistan through Quetta to Kandahar and through Peshavar to Kabul, the U.S. looked for new supply lines. These were found in the north.
Back in February Tajikistan and Uzbekistan allowed the U.S. and NATO to transport non-military goods (an oxymoron?) across their borders. The northern routes goes from Latvia at the Baltic sea via rail through Russia and Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and from there to Afghanistan.
Predictably those new supply lines are now coming under attack.
