Panzerhaubitze 2000. Photo by
Quistnix /Wikimedia commons
BERLIN, April 15 (UPI) -- The German government has reacted to criticism of the armament of its troops in Afghanistan by deciding to dispatch heavy firepower there.
German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg said he would "as quickly as possible" send to Afghanistan two models of the Panzerhaubitze 2000, a world-leading self-propelled artillery weapon developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall. While Dutch forces in Afghanistan regularly use the howitzers with a target range of up to 37 miles, the Germans don't have a single one in Afghanistan.
Sending howitzers is a major policy reversal for Berlin, which has shied from deploying heavy attack equipment into Afghanistan out of fear it would point to a war-like mission -- highly unpopular in largely pacifist Germany.
The German troops will also receive TOW anti-tank guided missiles and additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles, German news magazine Der Spiegel reports.
"Those are basic conditions that will be created to meet the mission's challenges," the defense minister said.
The announcement came shortly before four German troops were killed in a Taliban ambush Thursday, handing critics of the mission even more arguments after three troops were killed in a similar attack two weeks ago.
Thursday's attack underlined the need for greater protection from large-scale attacks. Taliban insurgents used a rocket-propelled grenade to stop an Eagle IV armored vehicle patrolling near Baghlan, south of Kunduz. A heavy firefight ensued, German daily Bild reports. In addition to the four deaths, five Germans were seriously injured.
The firefight two weeks ago was a militarily executed ambush from two sides involving some 80 insurgents, which shows that the Taliban are operating more professionally when facing NATO troops.
This has prompted German officials to call for key defense equipment such as transport planes, helicopters, mortar and heavy armored vehicles, to be deployed to Afghanistan.
Some experts have even called for the Leopard 2 tank, produced by Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, a 60-ton war machine already used by Canadian and Dutch troops.
Zu Guttenberg said he wouldn't deploy Leopard 2 tanks, because they aren't suited for the difficult terrain around Kunduz. He added, however, that additional improvements would be made to military equipment for the nearly 5,000 German troops in Afghanistan. While he didn't specify, observers expect this to concern ammunition.
A classified Bundeswehr report, written by a German general and leaked to German newspaper Bild, calls for stronger ammunition for the Heckler & Koch G36, a standard Bundeswehr assault rifle. Similar concerns relate to cannons mounted on the armored vehicles Dingo and Fox.
Germany is Europe's largest weapons exporter. Its domestic industry is building world-class armored vehicles, artillery and submarines.
It is involved in several large multinational defense projects, such as the Eurofighter jet, the Airbus A400M military transporter and the multipurpose NH90 helicopter developed and built by Eurocopter daughter NHIndustries.
