Afghan War: German generals have doubts

German generals are expressing concern about the proposed expansion of the NATO/ISAF mission in Afghanistan outside the capital city of Kabul.

(When I was looking up the source story in the tabloid-style Bild am Sonntag, I got distracted by the story, "Does Britney Only Kiss Women Now?" She's not just popular in America, you know!)

The German Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) is supposed to vote this week on expanding the NATO mission in Afghanistan outside Kabul to the northern city of Kunduz. Afghanistan is far from stable, and far from having any meaningful national government. Taliban resistance is increasingly powerful, and al-Qaeda cadres still operate there.

The authority of Harmad Karzai's "national" government basically extends to the city limits of Kabul. And even Kabul is not yet free from terrorist attacks. Karzai is protected by American bodyguards because he still can't rely on enough loyal Afghan troops to do even that. And his authority is still dependent on the NATO-led ISAF force whose presence has been restricted to Kabul.

NATO has agreed to expand ISAF into areas north of Kabul. German generals are expressing concern that the Bundeswehr doesn't have enough of the kind of combat helicopters it will need for the expanded mission. But I suspect they're also seriously concerned that the Afghan situation is looking like a quagmire already. Why expand the mess unless you're really prepared to handle the problem in a more comprehensive way?

Unlike my attitude toward the Iraq War, I've thought the Afghan War was a necessary and just war. And that stabilizing Afghanistan was much more important for American security than Iraq, because Afghanistan was really the heartland for Bin Laden's particular extreme brand of Muslim jihad extremism.

But the best opportunity for stabilizing Afghanistan is already past, and we have a brand new mess in Iraq. Whether it makes sense to continue a NATO presence in Afghanistan now - that's very much an open question for me.

Sources: Bild am Sonntag, 10/19/03 Nachrichten: "Generale warnen vor neuer Mission in Afghanistan"

Der Spiegel Online 10/19/03

Tags: afghanistan war, germany