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Aghanistan Mission

German Politicians Say AWACS Request Could Overburden Troops

Berlin is facing another domestic conflict over the Bundeswehr deployment in Afghanistan. NATO is considering a request for the deployment of AWACS reconnaissance planes stationed in Germany. But the deployment would require parliamentary approval and is likely to spark a major debate in Berlin.

NATO is currently considering plans to deploy AWACS reconaissance planes in Afghanistan -- a move that could lead to another debate in Germany on the scope of the mandate for a mission that has grown deeply unpopular here. Politicians from the center-left Social Democrats and the leftist Green Party fear the beefed-up deployment could strain the capacity of Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr.

On Thursday, NATO officials announced they were considering a deployment of the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) reconnaissance aircraft in the Hinda Kush. The move came after the commander of the Aghanistan peacekeeping force ISAF, a military alliance between NATO member states, issued a related request to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

But defense experts with both the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and leftist Green Party have expressed their reservations about the proposal. If a request is made for German soldiers to serve as crew on the AWACS planes, SPD parliamentarian Rainer Arnold told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, "the German debate could get a lot more complicated." Green parliamentarian Winfried Nachtwei also expressed his skepticism about NATO's considerations.

NATO currently has 18 AWACS aircraft stationed at a base in Geilenkirchen near Aachen, Germany. The Bundeswehr provides most of the crew for the Boeing planes, which, with their UFO-shaped radar system and four engines, are capable of monitoring a radius of up to 500 kilometers (311 miles).

The deployment in Afghanistan is a highly controversial issue in Germany -- with public opinion clearly opposed to it -- and demands from allies to expand combat missions or send German troops to the more dangerous south have been rejected here. The German government recently said it would deploy an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, but the decision must still be approved by parliament and the new AWACS request could complicate that debate. Currently, Germany has about 3,500 troops in the country.

SPD politician Arnold claims that the United States already has the capacity to secure the air space over Afghanistan and that the AWACS deployment will not contribute to the mission. He also worries that the planes could be used outside of Afghanistan -- in neighboring Pakistan or Iran, for example. "A deployment would send the wrong signal and it would stoke unnecessary concerns," Arnold said. In 2007, his party also expressed its misgivings about deploying six German "Tornado" fighter jets to Afghanistan, where they are used on reconnaissance flights.

Green Party politician Nachwei told the Berliner Zeitung that one must worry that "we are, step by step, blundering into something with dimensions we can't even predict." Nachtwei called on the German Defense Ministry to move swiftly to provide information about NATO's considerations. "The ministry should provide clarity on the issue quickly." Nachtwei criticized the Defense Ministry for not coming forward with the information when parliament began debating the deployment of additional troops a few weeks ago.

So far, NATO hasn't sent an official request to Germany. US General David McKiernan, the commander of the NATO troops in Afghanistan has made the request for the AWACS planes to NATO Commander John Craddock, sources in the military alliance said on Thursday. But no decision has been made on the request. Without any official request, the Defense Ministry has been reserved in its response to the developments. For now, spokesman Thomas Raabe said, the issue is being discussed at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

But if NATO does send a request for German military personnel to man AWACS flights, it is expected that it will require the approval of parliament, the Bundestag. A May ruling by Germany's Constitutional Court reinforced parliament's power in making decisions on military deployments. In 2003, German soldiers participated in AWACS deployments to help protect Turkey's border in the run-up to the US-led Iraq war. The court recently ruled that deployment was unconstitutional because it had not been approved by parliament.

dsl/ddp/afp/reuters