“Afghan syndrome” of Bundeswehr

September 11, 2001 was a turning point in many senses. New-York events influenced German society in a serious way, and on the wave of sympathizing with victims of terrorists German authorities managed to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan. Federative Republic from the very beginning supported the USA in carrying out “Enduring Freedom” operation which started on October 7, 2001. This mission had its own particularities: in the every beginning German troops acted not on the base of UN or NATO mandate but on the base of bilateral agreement with the USA. Later they entered international ISAF contingent, the task of which was to stabilize the situation in the country and support newly created government.
Germans were given a separate region in relatively quiet north of the country. So Bundeswehr losses appeared to be not very large: today they amount to 33 soldiers and 3 policemen (comparing with 751 men lost by the USA and 188 – by Great Britain). German government worried that more serious losses might cause indignation in German society and kept German soldiers as farther from flashpoints as possible. However, it turned out that German citizens counted not only losses of German army.
On September 4, 2009 on of Bundeswehr officers requested an aircraft attack on the city of Kunduz. It is still unclear, what was the goal of this bombing: first were mentioned two petrol tank trucks hijacked by Taliban, then was mentioned a ban of armed terrorists… More or less clear is number of killed Afghans: about 150, including at least 50 non-combatants.
But this fact was not well-known from the very beginning. On elections’ eve Defense Ministry – and probably some other bodies – preferred to conceal awkward information. Society was deliberately misinformed. And when in the end of autumn the truth began to gradually become clear, a real storm arose...
http://www.eastwest-review.com/article/ldquoafghan-syndromerdquo-bundeswehr