January 17, 2008 (LPAC)--In hearings, yesterday, at the foreign affairs and defense committees of the national German parliament, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, inspector-general of the German Armed Forces, confirmed media leaks saying that preparations were underway for more engagement of German troops in combat missions in Afghanistan. Specifically, this shift will begin with the deployment of 250 parachuters and armored combat vehicles as a Quick Reaction Force to northern Afghanistan, replacing a Norwegian unit there that will return home, by late spring or summer this year. The arrangement here is, allegedly, that German soldiers are the best choice, because the northern district in Afghanistan is under German command anyway.

Also Brig.-Gen. Kasdorf, Commander of the ISAF staff in Kabul, confirmed these deliberations in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily, saying, "Without wanting to talk about a tank war: if you are in such a tank, you have better protection. And, it does have a deterring effect, at the same time." Germany already uses Marder armored personnel carriers in northern Afghanistan.

There are also leaks from Warsaw, that Poland (which is pulling out of Iraq) will deploy a contingent to Afghanistan, probably also a combat unit. For Germany, the change implies a step from the originally-defined non-combat mandate to one open to combat, and what is obnoxious about it is that it surfaces now, two months after the vote for an extension of the German mission in the national parliament.

It cannot be ruled out that the upgrading to the presence of combat units, including the addition the USA is sending of 3,000 soldiers-, has more to do with the acute crisis in neighboring Pakistan, preparing for something there or related to that, rather than with aspects rooted in Afghanistan as such. Combat units can be reassigned to other regions than those they are originally stationed in, inside Afghanistan, if the ISAF Command decides so.