Germans send first fighting unit to Afghanistan

BERLIN, June 30 (UPI) -- Germany's first fighting division in northern Afghanistan started operating Monday, with officials in Berlin hoping the German death toll won't shoot through the roof in the coming months.

Some 200 German elite soldiers Monday took over a quick reaction force manned by Norway over the past years. It's a mission that requires expertise and courage and -- this could be the big problem for the German government -- may result in more casualties for Germany in Afghanistan.

Yet German officials, most notably Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, so far have abstained from talking honestly about the Afghan mission.

"The security situation has become more difficult" is Jung's boldest statement about the danger German soldiers are facing. Why? Mainly because Germany's contribution to aid the international forces in Afghanistan is seen very critically at home. Some 26 German soldiers have died in Afghanistan so far, mostly because of roadside bombs and terror attacks. Observers say a non-proportional increase of that death toll would result in serious damage for any party responsible for it.

Merkel and Jung thus have not yet talked about a "fighting mission," but the quick reaction force is just that: a unit tasked with securing International Security Assistance Force missions and fighting insurgents wherever need be -- and that could be in northern AND in southern Afghanistan.

For the past six years, Germany has overseen reconstruction work in the relatively calm northern provinces. Berlin has resisted recent NATO calls to send its troops to the volatile southern part of the country, where NATO allies take heavy casualties fighting the Taliban.

Germany should "consider increasing the flexibility and use of its forces," a high-ranking military official said recently in Berlin, with a nod to the caveats that several nations, most notably Germany, have given their troops. The commanders in Afghanistan these days "are taught to play defense, not offense," he said.

Germany recently gave in to international pressure and agreed to train more Afghan police and send an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, bringing its total force in the country to 4,500. Only 23 percent of Germans back that decision, according to a recent poll.

According to experts, this is due to the German government's failure to sell the mission to the public. Germany's security benefits from the Afghan engagement, observers say, but the public doesn't really buy that. The German public and many lawmakers, even from the government parties, still resist sending German troops into harm's way.

So far, public opposition to the mission has been unagitated. But that would certainly change if German soldiers die in increasing numbers -- a worst-case scenario that could become reality, experts say.

The quick reaction force has to shoulder a "real fighting mission," Egon Ramms, a high-ranking NATO general with ISAF, recently told a German radio station. "They certainly aren't there to drill wells," he said.

Every year, Germany has to prolong its Afghan engagement, and the next decision awaits lawmakers in September. The decision could be a bit rockier than in recent years, given Germany's engagement and the still fragile security in the country.

The Pentagon recently authored a report admitting that the Taliban had "coalesced into a resilient insurgency," The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

"The Taliban will challenge the control of the Afghan government in rural areas, especially in the south and east," the report warns. "The Taliban will also probably attempt to increase its presence in the west and north."

That would mean much more work for the German quick reaction force -- and much more trouble for the German government.