German Afghanistan Inquiry

'Truth Is Often The First Casualty Of War'

04/21/2010 On Thursday, Germany's defense minister is set to testify before parliament about his knowledge of a deadly attack in Afghanistan that resulted in civilian deaths. Despite a decision by prosecutors to drop an investigation into the military official who called for the bombing, German commentators say the inquiry into whether politicians lied is essential.

The German Federal Prosecutor's Office announced earlier this week that it was dropping an investigation into Georg Klein, the German general who ordered an American-led air strike against suspected Taliban in Kunduz who had hijacked two tanker trucks in September. The bombing resulted in the deaths of up to 142 people, including many civilians.

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A Political Case

But even though the investigation into Klein and his officers has been dropped, a parliamentary committee of inquiry is still conducting its own probe into the Kunduz affair, which triggered a round of national soul searching among Germans, where the majority of people oppose the deployment of the Bundeswehr, the country's armed forces, in Afghanistan. Rather than dealing with military legalities, though, the parliamentary inquiry is reviewing the German government's response to events in Kunduz and whether politicians sought to cover up possible mistakes made by German officers. The Bundestag inquiry committee wants to know which members of the German government knew what and when. -->-->-->

German defense minister admits making error after Kunduz airstrike

22.04.2010 Lawmakers were very keen to find out why Guttenberg changed his mind about whether the strike ordered on September 4, 2009 on two Taliban hijacked tankers in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan had been "appropriate." The attack killed up to 142 people, many of them civilians.

During Thursday's questioning, the defense minister admitted that he had made a mistake in the aftermath of the airstrike, by initially saying it had been appropriate.

He explained that, after more information became available, he declared it to have been "inappropriate" and said the strike should never have gone ahead. He blamed top military officials in the defense ministry for not fully informing him at the time. -->-->-->