Germany Firm on Afghan Mission Despite Hostage Death

The two German men kidnapped in Afghanistan lived in this Kabul home.
DPA



Germany Firm on Afghan Mission Despite Hostage Death

The German government has vowed not to give in to Taliban demands that it pull its troops out of Afghanistan despite the kidnapping of two German engineers, one of whom has died. Media commentators say Germany knows the price of giving in to the "Hitlers and bin Ladens" of this world.
The two German men kidnapped in Afghanistan lived in this Kabul home.
The German government said on Monday it was doing all it could to secure the release of a second German hostage being held in Afghanistan after a first hostage kidnapped with him died.
"We're in contact with all Afghan authorities and are hoping we can be successful," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters ahead of a European Union meeting in Brussels on Monday.
The body of the first hostage, identified only as Rüdiger D., a 43-year-old construction engineer from Wismar in eastern Germany, is being flown back to Germany where it will be examined to establish the cause of death. The German government said he died of exhaustion during a forced march, but then confirmed reports on Sunday that there were gunshot wounds to the body.
A cursory examination of the body by German police in Kabul on Sunday found that he had been shot in the chest several times, probably with an AK-47, according to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE.
But the German government doesn't think he was deliberately executed. A man who was kidnapped with him and released told police that Rüdiger D. had collapsed during an exhausting trek into mountains last week. The kidnappers had then fired at his lifeless body. It will take a precise autopsy to establish whether he was already dead when those shots were fired.
He is believed to have been diabetic. He leaves behind a wife and a 12-year-old son. Rüdiger D. left Germany for Kabul a year ago after his small building company collapsed. He had recently been working as a freelance engineer in a market that is as lucrative as it is dangerous.

Taliban fighters check their weapons in this February file photo taken in eastern Afghanistan.
REUTERS
Taliban fighters check their weapons in this February file photo taken in eastern Afghanistan.
Mediators managed to reach the second hostage, Rudolf B., by telephone on Sunday. He said he didn't think he could withstand the night-time marches much longer. His kidnappers appear to be on the move constantly to evade capture.
Steinmeier said he was appalled that the Taliban had tried to exploit the kidnapping for their own political purposes by claiming on Saturday that they had shot dead both hostages because Berlin had refused to withdraw German troops from Afghanistan. The German government has cast doubt on whether the kidnappers are Taliban fighters. German media reported that the engineers were believed to have been kidnapped in the course of a tribal dispute in which an Afghan businessman they had been accompanying had been the real target.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would not give in to the demands of the Taliban to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and would not allow itself to be blackmailed.
"We will not react to demands from the Taliban," Merkel said in an interview with Germany's ARD public television when asked if she would consider bringing German troops home. "We will not give in to blackmail, that would be dangerous."
Germany has over 3,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north as part of a NATO peacekeeping force. Merkel reiterated that she wanted Germany to fully renew its Afghan peacekeeping mandate when it expired later this year.
Separately, the Taliban extended by 24 hours a deadline for the Afghan government to trade captured militants for 23 South Korean aid workers kidnapped on Thursday.
Many German media commentators support Merkel's position, with the center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung saying the West should send more troops to underline its long-term commitment towards building a stable democracy in Afghanistan.
Conservative Die Welt writes:
"The Taliban are well informed about political developments and national sentiment in the countries involved in Afghanistan, and they're trying to influence those people who are saying No to the mission or toying with the idea of saying No. They are interfering in the domestic politics of Western countries and trying with their slow but determined increase in terror to strengthen the political forces that are isolationist and want Germany to retreat from the crisis regions of the world."
"Of course it's legitimate to rethink Germany's involvement in Afghanistan. But anyone -- be it on the left or the right of the political spectrum -- who now demands an immediate withdrawal should know that they are strengthening the political clout of the Taliban and helping them to establish themselves as the successors of al-Qaida."
The mass circulation tabloid Bild writes:
"The Taliban and their murderous henchmen should take note: We won't give up the fight against terrorism -- because we don't want to give up ourselves.
"We Germans especially should have learned the lessons of history: If you give in to the Hitlers and bin Ladens of this world you're not serving peace. You're encouraging war."
The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"The West must get more involved in Afghanistan and send more reconstruction workers -- and more soldiers."
"Those who want to help give the Afghans the prospect of a better life with aid projects should also be prepared to safeguard this construction work with more soldiers. And this requires one thing above all: the readiness to make a long-term commitment."
The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung isn't so sure:
"What is the concrete goal of our mission in Afghanistan? How is it to be achieved? How can this fatal development be reversed? The reconstruction isn't making progress, people are increasingly sympathizing with the insurgents, the situation is becoming increasingly unstable."
"Those who know how to solve this should come forward. Pledges to stay the course alone don't help."
Any similar plans for "military-backed democratization", for example for the Gaza Strip or Iran, should be abandoned, the newspaper writes.

-- David Crossland, 2 p.m. CET

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SPIEGEL ONLINE - July 23, 2007, 02:16 PM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,496007,00.html
THE WORLD FROM BERLIN