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The World from Berlin

Germany Can't Let Itself be Blackmailed

Internet messages from Islamic militants threatening Germany have revived fears that the country is at risk of attack because of its military involvement in Afghanistan. Berlin may pay for the release of hostages, but it must resist demands to pull out of Afghanistan, German commentators say.

Germany has received a fresh reminder that it too is a target for terrorists despite its refusal to fight in the Iraq War and its hesitant involvement in the fight against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, so far limited to the dispatch of surveillance aircraft approved by parliament last week.

Islamic militants posted a video statement on the Internet over the weekend threatening to attack Germany and Austria unless the two countries break ranks with the US and withdraw personnel from Afghanistan.

“Germany will face more threats and dangers if it doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan,” an unidentified speaker said in a video statement posted Saturday on an Islamic Web site used by al-Qaida-linked militants.

The authenticity of the video could not be verified, but it was released by the Voice of the Caliphate, which is said to be run by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida group.

The unidentified speaker said about 2,700 German soldiers in Afghanistan will “not be safe from attacks” by the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan. He also threatened that militants will carry out attacks in Austria and against Austrian personnel in Afghanistan.

The Web site ran subtitles in perfect German. Security analysts said the message may have been recorded by Islamic militants living in Europe.

Separately, a little-known Iraqi Islamist militant group said on Saturday that it would kill a kidnapped German woman and her son in 10 days unless Berlin withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. In Iraq, the Arrows of Righteousness group posted a video on a Web site showing the weeping woman, aged over 60, and her son, in his mid-20s.

"We give the German Government 10 days from the date of this statement to announce and start the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan, otherwise … they will not even see the bodies of these two agents," said a masked man, reading a statement on the video.

The woman, married to an Iraqi physician and has reportedly been living in Iraq for years.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told German radio on Monday that German troops would continue to assist the reconstruction of Afghanistan. He said the government "must not allow itself to be blackmailed."

"We're part of the global danger zone and even in times when we weren't affected, we couldn't be under any illusions that we're not just as threatened as the Spaniards, the British or others as well," said Schäuble.

German newspapers say the government may well pay up to get the hostages released, just as it is reported to have paid for other German hostages kidnapped in Iraq over the last two years-But it cannot afford to let terrorists blackmail it into quitting Afghanistan, the papers add.

Conservative Die Welt writes: "It's only logical that the kidnappers of the two Germans in Iraq refer to Afghanistan. Even if one can only hope that that they belong to the kidnapping industry and are only interested in ransom money -- they sense how the Germans can be unsettled. The fact that they are threatening attacks is almost to be welcomed in this clarity. It opens our eyes: whatever we do, we're no exception."

"It's to be feared that there will be increased attacks and suicide attacks against Germans and Austrians. There as well as here. How will the Germans deal with that? Will the defeatists come to the fore? Afghanistan isn't like Bosnia, Congo or Lebanon. This is about defeat or victory -- for the entire western alliance. One can't blame America here."

Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes: "Those who are opposed to our involvement in Afghanistan now see their arguments as confirmed -- Germany has made itself a target for terrorists, they say. But the attempts at blackmail are no proof for this theory. Even if there weren't any German troops stationed in Afghanistan, Germany would still be regarded as a supporter of the Afghan war. Because it allows NATO troops to be stationed on its soil, for example. Those who want terror always find a way to justify it. But those who refuse to fight terrorism because they are scared of terrorism, have already lost."

"It's unlikely that the kidnappers of the Germans are really interested in Afghanistan. …It's more plausible that the two have got into the clutches of the Iraqi kidnapping industry which wants ransom money rather than pursuing political demands. It's known in Iraq that Germany pays up: money flowed for Susanne Osthoff and the two engineers from Leipzig."

"It's the German government's own fault that it's now being blackmailed again. But the question whether it should or shouldn't pay doesn't arise anymore -- it was already answered in the first two kidnappings. In contrast with the British government which remained hard and accepted the decapitation of one of its citizens in front of a camera, the German government hasn't subjected itself to a tough fundamental decision. With luck and money the current kidnapping can be resolved. Germany will have to live with the fact that Germans in Iraq will continue to be kidnapped and bought free."

"But the government must not allow itself to be blackmailed into withdrawing from Afghanistan. The terrorists have recognized that support for the mission in this country is not unconditional -- they're speculating that Berlin can be driven out of the coalition by threats."

Left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes: "Now we've got the threat of attacks and hostage deaths because the army is about to get involved in the fighting in Afghanistan with its surveillance aircraft. That has brought the Hindukush very close to Berlin. There are good reasons for being opposed to sending Tornados. What reasons are there in favor? Is it the future of NATO, or fear of having to send ground troops? It's time that was discussed openly. The fog that has been pumped into this debate will no longer work when people start dying. This is something blackmailers can achieve: they can enforce honesty."

Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "Psycholgical terror follows the same laws as bloody terror: It can provoke fear but also resilience. Whether it succeeds depends not on its actions but on the actions of its opponents. The German government seems determined not to be deterred from its reconstruction work in Afghanistan. The population there will decide whether that proves successful."

-- David Crossland, 12:30 CET