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  SPIEGEL Interview with the Inspector General of the German Army: 'Our Sacrifices Do Not Leave Me Cold'

SPIEGEL Interview with the Inspector General of the German Army 'Our Sacrifices Do Not Leave Me Cold'

Part 2: 'It Would Be Foolish to Specify a Date for a Withdrawal'

AP

Wolfgang Schneiderhan is Germany's highest-ranking military officer.

Schneiderhan: We can't lock anyone up. And we have no one to whom we can turn over suspects and expect safe and effective criminal prosecution. Unfortunately there is still no functioning judicial system in Afghanistan, one with public prosecutors and police forces who are not open to corruption. Nevertheless, Afghanistan is a sovereign state where we have no policing powers. We are only there to provide support.

SPIEGEL: You could soon be providing even more support -- by sending troops to the more volatile south.

Schneiderhan: We have no intention of doing so. This is not open for discussion.

SPIEGEL: Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is already pushing for such a move.

Schneiderhan: The foreign minister has said that he wants to hear the military's recommendations first. We are discussing the issue with him for that purpose. We do agree that we need to and want to improve the training of Afghan security forces.

SPIEGEL: Does this also apply to the south?

Schneiderhan: My concern lies with the northern region, because that's the area for which we are responsible. The attack in Kunduz demonstrated that we do not have any stabile Afghan security forces around our bases. There is an urgent need for local police and military forces. We are very happy to train them, and we are even prepared to do so in regions where neither ISAF nor Afghan security forces are at the moment. Two of the nine northern provinces are bigger than (the German state of) Hesse! Our goal is security in the whole of Afghanistan.

SPIEGEL: And if President Hamid Karzai orders a battalion to be transferred from the north to the south, will the German training personnel stay behind, as they did once before in May?

Schneiderhan: I did not feel that the battalion was ready for combat at the time. Under the conditions which I was aware of, I could not take responsibility for sending our training team together with the troops.

SPIEGEL: And as a result, Germans faced renewed criticism in North America, where they were accused of shirking their responsibility, along the lines of: Your soldiers sit around drinking beer while ours are being killed.

Schneiderhan: These accusations are not only unfair, but also absurd. I would only consider them relevant if they came from the ISAF commander in Kabul or from NATO headquarters. But neither of them leveled such accusations against us. I would caution against making snap judgments. Our sacrifices do not leave me cold. From the last memorial service, I know how difficult it is for families when their sons accompany the bodies of their dead comrades back to Germany and then immediately afterwards board planes to return to Afghanistan again.

SPIEGEL: Nevertheless, the allies are pushing for German troops to be deployed to the front in the south.

Schneiderhan: And they're certainly free to do so. But just imagine the public debate in Germany if a German training team were to accompany Afghans into the interior to fight other Afghans. The Germans get involved in the fighting and call in air support. OEF sends in planes and there are innocent civilian casualties. I shudder to think what the reaction in Berlin would be.

SPIEGEL: Is Germany's highest-ranking military commander advising against a deployment in the south merely because this would be unacceptable to the German public?

Schneiderhan: No. My argument is based more on a military perspective. But if you're saying that the Germans should finally go south to improve their image, then we could end up paying a high price. The level of danger in the north is already high enough for me to fear the worst every time the telephone rings at an unusual hour. We shouldn't be trying to do everything at once. The real question is much more: Where exactly is the "front" when you are fighting an asymmetrical conflict with terrorists?

SPIEGEL: Do you mean that it is completely possible that more soldiers could be going to Afghanistan in the fall, but only to the north?

Schneiderhan: Numbers are not the issue. And as far as responsibilities go, we abide by the agreements reached within NATO. After all, we were the first to assume responsibility for an entire region. Everyone else was overjoyed by our decision at the time. Nobody can accuse us of anything in that regard.

SPIEGEL: And we're talking about trainers, not combat troops?

Schneiderhan: Correct. There is now an agreement between ISAF and the defense minister in Kabul, under which Afghan units will be permanently assigned to specific zones in the future, which will eliminate the need to send troops from one part of the country to the next. When that happens we will be able to make meaningful progress with our training program, which is in any case more of a long-term matter.

SPIEGEL: When do you think the deployment could be brought to an end?

Schneiderhan: I wouldn't care to make any predictions. There is the idea that Afghan forces will at some point be able to handle the country's security on their own. The international community could then at least substantially reduce its troop strength. But it would be foolish to specify a date at this stage.

Interview conducted by Ulrike Demmer, Georg Mascolo and Alexander Szandar.

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