German troops are fighting the first pitched battles witnessed by the Bundeswehr since 1945 in the face of a growing Taleban insurgency in the north of Afghanistan.
Security has deteriorated in areas such as Badghis province in the northwest, Kunduz, Baghlan and some parts of Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.
In April there was heavy fighting in Kunduz province during Operation Towheed, in which seven German soldiers were killed. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German Defence Minister, gave a warning last week of “new and greater risks” that German forces must bear. Recent opinion polls have put German public opposition to the country’s 5,000-strong Afghan deployment at 62 per cent.
A spokesman for the German forces in Kunduz told The Times this weekend: “It was intensive fighting in April. The situation is not stable and not secure. It has been deteriorating for more than a year.”
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