Germans discover war in Afghanistan

BERLIN, June 25 (UPI) -- German politicians are slowly waking up to the bloody reality of the war in Afghanistan.

Following the killing of three Bundeswehr troops by the Taliban near Kunduz earlier this week, politicians in Germany have begun to admit that the West is involved in a war in Afghanistan. For years, officials have refused to say that Germany's military contribution was a war-like mission.

"The Taliban are waging a war against the Afghan people and are forcing this war upon us," Peter Struck, a former German defense minister, told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

In a TV interview, Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung vowed that insurgents attacking German troops would be relentlessly battled. His troops are prepared to do that, he added. Jung has not yet used the word "war" in his statements, arguing that the mission is focused on reconstruction.

That may have been the case when the Germans entered the country in 2002. Over the past few years, however, security in the northern provinces, where the Bundeswehr leads reconstruction efforts, has deteriorated rapidly.

The number of clashes with insurgents has increased. The Taliban has for long fired rockets into the German camps, but they are now increasingly bold, attacking German soldiers on patrols. This has prompted several opposition politicians to question the West's strategy in Afghanistan and demand an exit strategy from Berlin.

Earlier this week the Taliban fired at three troops driving an armored car for a patrol mission about 4 miles southwest of Kunduz. The soldiers returned fire but lost control over the car, which fell into a water-filled ditch, trapping them inside. Two men died on the spot, the third soldier later that day, the Defense Ministry said.

Previously peaceful northern Afghanistan is becoming increasingly dangerous.

"The Taliban have rearmed massively," Reinhold Robbe, the country's military ombudsman, told German daily Bild. Robbe said Berlin should deploy small tanks to Afghanistan so troops can take on the Taliban from a greater distance. German troops were attacked 34 times since the start of the year, according to the Defense Ministry.

Even local officials are calling for more police to deal with the insurgents.

"We have asked the government for more forces because we underestimated the problem in Kunduz," the area's governor, Enginner Omaar, told the BBC. Observers say the increase in Taliban attacks is aimed at destabilizing the country ahead of its August 20 presidential election. The northern part of the country has seen an influx of Taliban fleeing from NATO's offensive in the southern and eastern provinces.

Germany has nearly 4,000 troops serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The death toll of German soldiers in Afghanistan stands at 35.