Germanys shrinking influence in Afghanistan

[Skynet]

Germany's shrinking influence in Afghanistan

Posted : Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:12:01 GMT
Author : DPA

New Delhi/Kabul - The host was absent when German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung held a press conference at the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan recently. ISAF's commander, General David McKiernan, apparently had something better to do - unusual considering Jung is defence minister of the third-biggest supplier of troops and the fourth biggest donor nation in Afghanistan.
The snub dates back to the last joint press conference held by the two men in the late summer of 2008 when the US general used the ugly word "war" in Afghanistan, much to the annoyance of Jung.
Germany had been studiously avoiding the term when speaking of the unpopular deployment of its troops in the landlocked Asian nation. Since then the two men have avoided each other in public.
More on the link
www.earthtimes.org/art...ature.html

 

[hackle]

Thanks Skynet, interesting report. Gen McKiernan was DCOS G2/G3 with the ARRC in the latter part of their first Balkans deployment and has plenty experience dealing with allies and is not one to upset an ally "unnecessarily".

 

[Drlligaf]

As Skynet said that horrible word "war" was mentioned and the German politicians are allmost paranoid about it. Admittedly the German involvement in the North has not seen the action that the British Army has, but nevertheless there have been "incidents" with Bundeswehr casualties. But its not war. However on certain German websites serving and ex-soldiers are of a slightly different opinion.

 

[Odo_de_StAmand]

"Don't mention the War!"

Odo

 

[dhgrainger1]

The links broken on my machine, anyone else?

 

[thinkingaboutit]

Germany's shrinking influence in Afghanistan

They were so effective at being sneaky beaky, I never knew they were there...

 

[BIPOLAR77]

Due to the fact that the Army is controlled by the people and not the government has something to do with it I suspect

 

[whitecity]

How does a personal spat between Jung and McKiernan translate to "Germany's shrinking influence in Afghanistan"?

Looking at it through another prism, Germany's influence has increased within NATO as their determination not to be dragged into America's "war" has encouraged many other EU NATO members to 'shrink' away too. Germany may not have much say over the US' CT operation in Afghanistan (it never did), but its influence by rejecting calls to expand southwards has had major impact on US (and UK policy and troop rotations).