NATO Discusses Tornados for Afghanistan and Germany Hesitates

NATO is especially interested in the outstanding aerial reconnaissance capacities of the German Recce Tornados. Their high-resolution cameras can detect even a cigarette pack from a height of 2,000 metres, so they have good chances of spotting a Taleban hideout.

NATO units keep being ambushed in southern Afghanistan and are therefore turning to the German airforce for assistance. The six German Tornados would be deployed in areas where British jets are currently being used for aerial reconnaissance.

The German Federal Government has not yet given its official permission and the issue is raising concern among politicians. The parliamentary leader for the Social Democrats, Peter Struck said that the government had to involve parliament before coming to a final decision and said he was in favour of a new mandate being drawn up.

Is a new mandate necessary?

However, there are doubts as to whether a new mandate is required. The German Federal Army is a parliamentary army which means that parliament has to agree to each foreign deployment, however, a mandate already exists for the deployment of almost 3,000 German soldiers in northern Afghanistan.

Originally, the government thought of integrating the deployment of the six Tornados into the existing mandate for reasons of simplicity. However, the opposition was immediately against this arguing that the current mandate is only valid for northern Afghanistan and only allows short-term support in other parts of the country.

The parliamentary leader for the Green Party Fritz Kuhn has said that new tasks require a new mandate. "I am stating this clearly -- either we discuss the matter in parliament or we'll see each other in Karlsruhe (where the Federal Constitutional Court is located)!," he warned.

The socialist Left Party is also strictly opposed to the deployment of the Tornados, with or without a mandate. It believes that it will pave the way for the German army to participate in fighting and it says that there should be clarity before such a thing happens.

"These Tornados help NATO bombs find their targets and many civilians have died as a result of NATO bombing in the south of Afghanistan," said parliamentary leader Oskar Lafontaine.

Stabilisation and reconstruction

Until now, the main tasks of the German army have been stabilisation and reconstruction, whereas fighting has been carried out by other NATO countries. The Tornado deployment in the south would change the situation and, therefore, the government has to find a way of fitting in this new deployment with the old concept. Only then might it gain the parliament's permission.

The president of the German German Federal Armed Forces Association, which represents the interests of German servicemen and women, Bernhard Gertz has strongly criticised the US' war in the south of Afghanistan, saying that many innocents have been killed.

He has warned the government not to deploy the Tornados in the volatile south. "If the manner of conducting the war does not change in the south, and more respect of human dignity and human rights is not shown," he warned, "if we do not win over the people and drastically improve reconstruction in the south, we will lose the military battle there."

He added that it was "surely not a good prospect -- even for the Federal Army -- to become part of a lost battle without perspectives."

He also stated that a new mandate would be necessary because this matter was not about emergency help but about a long-term project to help NATO improve its reconnaissance skills in southern Afghanistan.