PRESSURE IS building on the German government to explain conflicting accounts of last September’s bombing of two petrol tankers in northern Afghanistan that killed dozens of civilians.
At the centre of the growing scandal is defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. But a parliamentary inquiry meeting, sitting tomorrow, has its sights fixed on the Chancellery.
There are two scandals at play: who knew about the true circumstances of the September 4th air-strike on two Taliban-hijacked petrol tankers in northern Afghanistan and, secondly, who has been covering up since? Pressure is growing on chancellor Angela Merkel to speak publicly on the matter as her last words were four days after the September bombing, when she said she would “not tolerate” any premature speculation ahead of a full inquiry.
That investigation has been completed and the highly critical report has been leaked to the German media.
The scandal has already claimed the head of the defence minister at the time, a senior ministry official as well as Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the highly-decorated head of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr. Mr zu Guttenberg said Mr Schneiderhan was asked to resign for withholding reports about the bombing from him on taking office. Now Mr Schneiderhan has gone on the attack, telling German television that Mr zu Guttenberg’s version of events is untrue.
The scandal has been fuelled by piecemeal admissions from the government, such as the claims in the aftermath of the bombing that there had been no civilian casualties and that the aim of the strike was to prevent the two tankers being turned into “rolling bombs”.
Based on the information available in Berlin at the time and since leaked, it’s clear that neither claim was strictly true.
After a climb-down over civilian casualties – without ever naming specific numbers – the defence ministry has now admitted the attack was “militarily inappropriate” and that Taliban insurgents as well as the tankers were targeted.
This last admission came yesterday, following the leak of a September 5th report from German Col Georg Klein, the man who ordered the airstrike to, in his words, “kill insurgents”.
That has electrified the opposition who say the Bundeswehr has no mandate for such action.
“I have the impression that the current debate is an attempt to change the character of the Bundeswehr mission and to transform the armed forces into an army of intervention,” said opposition Social Democrat (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel. The Bundeswehr operates under tight supervision of parliament, which issues annual deployment mandates: the Afghanistan mandate renewed just last week is concentrated on rebuilding civilian infrastructure.
“Is this a new German strategy in Afghanistan?” asked Green Party co-leader Jürgen Trittin. “Is this something the chancellery knows about? Does Dr Merkel believe that this escalation in our strategy is covered by the parliamentary mandate?” A spokesman for the German leader has described as “absurd” claims that Berlin has changed its military strategy in Afghanistan, but said no detailed statements would be made ahead of tomorrow’s first parliamentary inquiry sitting.