by DAVID AXE
Germany has the third-largest army in Afghanistan — nearly 4,000 troops — but they are limited, by law, to non-combat roles. When that law expires, in December, will Berlin give its soldiers permission to start shooting? And, will they be ready to join more war-like nations, on the front lines? Or, are they too soft?
(Photo: Daily Mail)
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Well, it’s time for German-bashing again… Maybe all those English speaking people didn’t pick quite the right time, though, a few days after 3 German soldiers died when their APC flipped over during a skirmish with OMF. And yes, the Germans did shoot then. Quite a lot, actually.
(BTW, the mandate running out in December doesn’t mean at all that there’ll be a radical change. But that’s another story.)
It’s not that Germany’s forces are “limited, by law, to non-combat roles”. It’s the rather restrictive ROEs adopted by the German MoD. (Which in itself are a consequence of the German past.) So maybe the role and actual situation of German forces in Northern Afghanistan deserves a closer look than just picking up headlines from people who don’t look into the matter seriously.
(Do I sound pissed? Well, I am. I’m giving the German MoD a fair share of bashing. Nevertheless I despise the picture of the fat-bellied, beer-drinking Germans to shy to fight…)
They’re not soft they’re just not stupid and don’t want to waste their lives on useless holes like Afghanistan.