AWACS mission
July 2, 2009
Franz Josef Jung rejected the suggestion that the German government was trying to downplay the scale of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. There's been a debate in the country whether or not to describe the mission the Germans soldiers find themselves in as "war." Jung said in a television interview that German troops were deployed on a mission to stabilize the country and train Afghan police and security forces.
Jung said he was "utterly convinced" that the NATO strategy would lead to success, adding that said German troops could return home within five to 10 years.
"The quicker we push ahead with training, the quicker we will achieve our goal," he stressed.
"And success means that Afghanistan must be in a position to take care of its own security. That is our goal."
German parliament to decide on AWACS mission
On Thursday, the German parliament is to decide on whether German military personnel will operate AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) surveillance planes monitoring Afghan airspace.
German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has ruled out the possibility of AWACS surveillance planes with German crews on board being used for military purposes. He told German public radio that they would have the sole task of "monitoring the flight traffic in Afghan airspace."
The radar equipped AWACS planes can pick out objects as far as 500 kilometers away – in total they can observe an area of around 300,000 square kilometers.
Many critics however say that it's hardly credible to argue that the planes will be used purely for defensive operations – but that instead their monitoring will always also be used for the surveillance of possible targets for military strikes.
The parliamentary debate comes on a day when the country held a memorial service for three German soldiers who were killed in combat near their base in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz.
A total of 35 German soldiers have died in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led ISAF mission since 2002. The mission is widely unpopular in Germany, with reports of the security situation in the north of the country deteriorating.
US offensive in Helmand province
Meanwhile, US forces on Thursday launched their biggest military offensive in Afghanistan since US President Barack Obama took office in January.
Thousands of US Marines together with hundreds of Afghan troops have moved into the Taliban-dominated Helmand River Valley. The goal of the operation is to clear the southern Afghan region of Taliban rebels and turn the tide of the fighting in time for an Afghan presidential election in August.
"The intent is to go big, go strong and go fast, and by doing so we are going to save lives on both sides," Brigadier-General Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marines in southern Afghanistan, told his staff before the operation.
The operation marks the first big test of Washington's new strategy to defeat the Taliban and its allies and stabilize Afghanistan.
The offensive began just hours after the US envoy to NATO demanded that Europe, and Germany in particular, do more to stabilize Afghanistan after the elections.
ai/AFP/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Chuck Penfold