May 20, 2008

I am the very model of a modern Major-General

What are they there for then... From The Daily Mail:
German army officers allow top Taliban commander to escape ... because they are not allowed to use lethal force
A Taliban commander with links to the killers of several British soldiers has escaped from German special forces because they were not allowed to shoot.

Elite soldiers from the German KSK had been charged with capturing the terrorist. After spending weeks searching for him, in cooperation with the Afghan army and secret service, they discovered that he was located near the town of Pol-e-Khomri in the north of Afghanistan.

Wearing night-vision goggles, the German team came within a few hundred metres of his hideout before they were discovered by Taliban forces.

It is unclear precisely what happened next, but the Berlin government will not let its soldiers fire shots in Afghanistan in any situation other than self-defence ... and the Taliban chief escaped.

If the German soldiers had opened fire they could have ended up on a murder charge.

The incident was reported yesterday by the German news magazine Der Spiegel which warned: 'The man and his network are active once again.'

It quoted an 'incredulous' British officer in Kabul as saying: 'The Germans are allowing the most dangerous people to get away and increasing the danger for the Afghans and all foreign forces here.'
Seriously now -- WTF? These people are making things worse by being there and getting in the way than if they just stayed home. And the post's title comes from here. Posted by DaveH at May 20, 2008 8:23 PM | TrackBack
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