Germany wants change in Afghanistan tactics - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Germany wants change in Afghanistan tactics

BRUSSELS, Belgium — U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan need to change tactics to limit civilian casualties and prevent a backlash from locals, Germany’s defense minister said Monday, reflecting European unease about reports of high death tolls in incidents involving American units.

“We have to make sure that in the future, operations do not take place in this way,” Franz Josef Jung told reporters at a meeting of EU defense ministers. “We don’t want the population against us. We have to prevent that.”

NATO governments are concerned that recent reports of civilian casualties could undermine public support for the international security mission in Afghanistan, both among the local people and with public opinion in Europe.

Airstrikes called in by U.S. Special Forces fighting some 200 Taliban militants near Sangin in southern Afghanistan killed 21 civilians last week, Afghan government officials said, while villagers said nearly 40 civilians were killed.

The U.S.-led coalition — which operates outside NATO’s force of 36,000 troops — confirmed that the battle caused civilian casualties, killing at least one child, and that a joint Afghan-U.S. team would investigate.

In March, Marines’ Special Forces fired on civilians after a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan, killing 19 civilians and wounding 50. Fighting late last month killed some 50 civilians in the western province of Herat, Afghan and U.N. officials say.

Jung made a distinction between the work of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and the U.S.-led counterterrorism mission, which was known until recently as Operation Enduring Freedom.

“It’s not the way of going about it,” he said. “I’m not talking about ISAF, I’m talking about OEF.”

Jung said he had raised the issue of civilian casualties with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and added that NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, was “looking into the issue.”

The German minister spoke after chairing the meeting of EU defense ministers, which approved plans to send about 160 experts on a mission to train Afghan police starting next month under the command of Brig. Gen. Friedrich Eichele of the German police.

NATO has long pressed for the EU to step up training for Afghan police, saying effective local security forces are essential to support international security efforts. Jung said building effective Afghan forces was an essential element of any eventual exit strategy for international troops.

European officials at NATO headquarters have expressed concern in recent days at the reports of civilian casualties, but they have refrained from publicly criticizing tactics of the American Special Forces who make up the bulk of the U.S.-led counterterrorism mission. They have, however, highlighted the need to improve coordination between NATO troops and the U.S.-led force of over 13,000.

Jung stressed the role of NATO troops in pushing through development projects such as irrigation networks, roads and schools. “We’ve got to win over the hearts and minds,” he said.

NATO’s troops were originally deployed to Kabul, the capital and the relatively peaceful northern and western regions to provide security and support for civilian reconstruction efforts. But the expansion of the allied mission into the volatile south and east last year has seen NATO troops also engaged in heavy fighting against supporters of the ousted Taliban regime.

However although the U.S. is the biggest contributor to the NATO force with 15,000 troops, mostly in the south and east, Washington has also maintained its separate special forces mission to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

Several European nations — including Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey — have refused to send their troops to NATO southern front lines except to provide emergency assistance to other allied units. Wary of unease back home, they prefer to focus on the reconstruction and development side of the mission.