Escalation not Ruled Out
german-foreign-policy.com
2011/05/20
KABUL/BERLIN
(Own report) - Anti-NATO Protests are continuing, following the killing of
demonstrators outside of the German army base in Taloqan,
Afghanistan. Yesterday, several hundred demonstrators again took to
the streets to express their outrage over a nighttime NATO raid. At least
14 demonstrators were shot to death on Wednesday. The Bundeswehr
does not rule out a new escalation. The growing number of civilians
being killed by NATO forces during military actions has provoked these
protests. According to a study by Afghan human rights activists, the
number of NATO's civilian casualties has grown to over 500, while the
protest movement against the Western occupiers has become stronger.
The recent escalation has been provoked by a war strategy that for
years has been tolerating civilian casualties. This has also been the
case for the Bundeswehr: the German military has taken part in the
establishment of hit lists, in night raids and in the preparation for air
raids that regularly kill civilians.
Aimed Shots
The protests against western occupation forces are continuing in
Taloqan, Afghanistan. They were provoked by the deaths of two women
and two men, killed by NATO soldiers during the night of Tuesday to
Wednesday. Whereas the NATO alleges that they had been insurgents,
locals insist that they were non-partisan civilians. On Wednesday, a
funeral procession was transformed into a protest demonstration.
About 3000 people were marching toward the Bundeswehr base in
Taloqan, where violence erupted. At least 14 demonstrators were shot
to death. It is unclear, whether German soldiers had also fired deadly
shots. The Bundeswehr admits that "aimed shots" were "fired at the
legs of violent protesters,"[1] wounding "7 to 8 attackers." Faced with
continued protests, the Bundeswehr explicitly declared, "an escalation
cannot be ruled out." The situation is very tense.
More Civilian Casualties
According to reports by Afghan human rights organizations, explaining
the mass protests outside the Bundeswehr base in Taloqan, the number
of civilians killed by western occupation forces and their Afghan
collaborators is much higher than admitted by the West based upon
United Nations figures. According to a UN report, 440 civilians were
killed during military actions by western occupation and Afghan
security forces in 2010 – 26 per cent less than in 2009.[2] The
independent Afghanistan Rights Monitor, based in Kabul, registered 512
civilians killed by western soldiers and 278 by Afghan security units.[3]
According to the Afghan Rights Monitor the discrepancy in these
figures can be explained by the fact that US/NATO forces often classify
civilian casualties to be insurgents and their collaborators. Verifying the
exact number of casualties would take time-consuming research on the
ground.
Bombing Election Campaigners
A recently published detailed study by the Afghanistan Analysts
Network, also seated in Kabul, sheds more light on the high number of
casualties. The investigation highlights a NATO targeted killing and
explains why western troops had attacked a convoy of election
campaigners during an air raid on September 2, 2010. Ten civilians were
killed. The Afghanistan Analysts Network explains that western forces
believed they were attacking the Takhar province's deputy Taliban
governor.[4] Their fateful error can be traced back to shoddy research -
risky conclusions, drawn from wiretapped telephone conversations
were insufficiently re-examined. For the Afghanistan Analysts Network,
it is evident that the Taliban governor was not killed in that attack –
contrary to what the military still alleges - he has even found and
interviewed in Pakistan since his alleged death. In the Takhar province -
whose capital Taloqan has become the focus of protests – the NATO
attack had caused a wave of indignation already back in September
2010. Protests had been spreading in other areas throughout 2010.
"Numerous emotional demonstrations against foreign troops allegedly
killing civilians were held in various parts of the country," reported the
Afghanistan Rights Monitor in its annual report.[5]
Counter-Insurgency
The hostility of the Afghan population towards the western occupiers is
being nourished from several sources. Alongside the casualties, there is
also immense material damage. According to the Afghanistan Rights
Monitor, in November 2010 alone, western troops destroyed hundreds
of houses, pomegranate trees and fruit gardens, thereby robbing the
people of their means of subsistence. More than US $100 million in
damage has been produced in the name of western counter-insurgency.
Also in the name of counter-insurgency, the West and its puppet regime
are cooperating with irregular militias, comprised of warlords and often
of criminals. The population detests the militias, above all, because of
their widespread abuse of civilians, reports the Afghanistan Rights
Monitor. In addition, personal vendettas as well as political rivalry are
being fought out under cover of alleged counter-insurgency. The
civilian population is always caught in the line of fire.
With German Participation
The fact that the hostility is now being also directed toward the German
Bundeswehr is not due merely to the fact that it is a contingent of the
western occupation forces. The September 4, 2009 Kunduz massacre,
ordered by a German colonel, killing up to 142 civilians, has not been
forgotten in Afghanistan. The population is also aware that the hit lists
("Joint Prioritized Effects List") with the names of enemies to be
captured or killed are certainly not solely produced by the US military,
but also with information from German troops. These hit lists usually
lead to nighttime raids by western forces – which repeatedly lead, as
currently in Taloqan, to hefty protests.[6] For the German side, it was
particularly the Task Force 47 that, according to the German
government, had, by August 2010, participated 21 times in these
"offensive operations," in which 59 people had been arrested "at least
temporarily." The government insists that German soldiers had not
killed anyone in the course of these operations, but furnishes no details
on how many were killed during these operations by participating
members of other allied forces.
[1] Afghanistan: Gewalttätige Demonstration in Talokan (3.
Aktualisierung);
www.bundeswehr.de 19.05.2011
[2] Afghanistan Annual Report 2010: Protection of Civilians in Armed
Conflict; United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, Afghanistan
Independent Human Rights Commission, Kabul, March 2011
[3] Afghanistan Rights Monitor: ARM Annual Report. Civilian Casualties
of War January-December 2010, Kabul, February 2011
[4] Kate Clark: The Takhar attack. Targeted killings and the parallel
worlds of US intelligence and Afghanistan, Afghanistan Analysts
Network, May 2011
[5] Afghanistan Rights Monitor: ARM Annual Report. Civilian Casualties
of War January-December 2010, Kabul, February 2011
[6] see also Tyrannical States
