U.S. military launches brutal Taliban fight in Kunduz

[link to www.spiegel.de]


GOOGLE translation
U.S. military launches brutal Taliban fighter in Kunduz

From Kunduz Matthias Gebauer and Shoib Najafizada report
U.S. soldiers (if offensive in September): Massive attacks in the territory of the Federal Armed Forces
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AFP

U.S. soldiers (if offensive in September): Massive attacks in the territory of the Federal Armed Forces

It was the biggest and toughest offensive in the German area of Afghanistan: near the army camp in Kunduz have led U.S. elite troops and Afghan soldiers, a major offensive against Taliban. Five days and nights falling bombs, we are talking of 133 deaths. The Germans did not participate.

Governor Omar is euphoric this Saturday. In a wide, bright white robe, he lounging on one of the big sofas in his guest house in the northern Afghan Kunduz. Very happy he wants "a big success," report, says Omar, "the first real blow against the Taliban." Finally, we have shown the enemy once, looks like an application. "We have surrounded the Taliban and then bombed five days. Only the language they understand."

An elite U.S. army have struck with local units and massive air support in the past week - and Afghan claims to 133 Taliban killed, 13 injured and 25 arrested. It was the most portentous previously used in the field, which is actually preserve the Bundeswehr. She was cited by U.S. fighters as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and not under the mandate of ISAF. The aim was to high-ranking Taliban leader around the village of Gul Tepa hunt northwest of the German army camp in Kunduz to.

Governor Omar praises the harshness of the attack: "The first time in the past five years we have really slammed," he said, making a decisive in his view, added: "It was only because we finally helped the U.S. in the fight against the Taliban have. " Colonel Abdul Wakil, head of Afghan unity, praising the efficiency of the U.S. military. "For the first time we had air support - that has made all the difference," says the leader of the second brigade of the 209th Corps of the Afghan army.

In fact, the use of brute force in the region of Kunduz could represent a turning point - for the German soldiers there.

"Large-scale Operation

The army, which has a camp in Kunduz, with roughly 675 soldiers who know the details of deaths and injuries. However, the force they can neither confirm nor deny. Because the Germans have not been involved in the application. The United States, although they were informed in advance - the German General Jurgen Setzer, who is leading the Regional Command North, however, declined to participate.

The U.S. military confirmed the extent of the use SPIEGEL ONLINE. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Mathias did not give any exact figures on victims, however, that the statements by the Afghan fighters killed and sources of information about those arrests the U.S. Army "very similar". She also confirmed that were attacked in "large-scale operation" fighters from the air. So far there was "no evidence" for civilian casualties. An assessment on the use of the so-called Mesopotamia, however, lies not yet available.

Afghan military report that the initiative came out for the deployment of a U.S. major, who coordinates the activities of U.S. special forces in the north of the country. He had approached the leadership of the local military and stationed in Kunduz have proposed a "cleansing operation" in Gul Tepa, which is known as a retreat of the Taliban - even ahead of the planned and then canceled runoff President on 7 November. Together, a strategy was developed and opened a command center. NDS, the Afghan intelligence service provided target coordinates relevant Taliban commanders.

"Countless bombs, five days 24 hours long"

Last Tuesday the deployment began. Involving some 800 Afghan soldiers, some 300 special forces of the U.S. Army and trained by them Afghans, some 130 police officers and several dozen NDS agents. The unanimous view of two soldiers circled the river-filled, and even with the SUV first a very inaccessible area. Then began selective bombardment from fighter jets and unmanned drones from the U.S. Army.

The attacks were violent. Reported in Kunduz residents, day and night they had heard explosions. A local politician said the explosions were very close to the city center have been. Also in the camp of the army, they were heard. Governor Omar spoke of "countless bombs that were dropped for five days 24 hours long." However, it has been a question of precisely targeted hits: "Fortunately, there have been no civilian casualties." A review of this statement was not possible.

Assesses the use of the NDS as a major blow to the structures of the Taliban in Kunduz region - that informed the Secret Service with a meeting with German military. Thus, one of the most wanted commanders in the region, which was about 35-year-old Mullah Qari Bashir, was killed at the beginning of the attacks. According to the military killed six other senior commanders. Probably the most wanted man from Kunduz, the so-called shadow governor Mullah Abdul Salam, narrowly escaped the missile. He is said to have been infringed.

Sensitive issue for Guttenberg

That the OEF units of the U.S. military more frequently in the operational area of the Bundeswehr are active, is no secret. At least a dozen times, this was 2009, even publicly. Repeatedly came unannounced and partly because of very hard hits or targeted killings broke out between German and U.S. military. Small troops stationed in Mazar-i-Sharif, U.S. Special Forces unit 373, the existence of the military would not even acknowledge, almost every night in the Kunduz region active. Recently, was killed in a rocket attack killed an innocent shepherd, when the U.S. soldiers in the infamous Mullah Abdul Salam chased and fired a missile at the civilians.

But the current use of 133 deaths and massive air strikes on five days away, the previous ideas beyond the actions of the U.S. military. The army was in the surreal position of being able to observe the massive battles since the beginning of their deployment in the region only as a spectator - even though they took place in the immediate vicinity of their camps. Only when U.S. soldiers had been seriously injured, the medics of the Bundeswehr would have brought them out of danger.

How to deal with the Germans for the proactive behavior of the U.S. elite units, is a sensitive issue for the new Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The Bundeswehr has a mood swing in the population fear that because of the many victims. So far there are only unconfirmed information - but in the army camp, many people think that the use can hardly be passed without dead civilians. This would have to answer at the end of ISAF Commander Stanley McChrystal to. He is also the head of "Operation Enduring Freedom.