BERLIN, July 22 (Xinhua) — German soldiers, equipped with heavy weaponry including tanks, are engaged in its largest military offensive in Afghanistan so far as part of a major military campaign against the Taliban forces ahead of the country's presidential elections in August, German officials said on Wednesday.German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung justified the offensive involving about 300 German soldiers and 900 Afghan security forces with a deteriorating security situation in areas around the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. "We are now particularly challenged in Kunduz," Jung told reporters in Berlin.
Wolfgang Schneiderhan, inspector general of the German military, the Bundeswehr, said that the goal of the latest offensive is to bring security situation under control to ensure an orderly progress of the presidential elections slated for August. He also said that the offensive launched within a radius of 30 kilometers around Kunduz would still take about a week.
According to the German Defense Ministry, German air force had also provided "close air support" for the ground troops for the first time in Afghanistan.
The rising level of German military combat in Afghanistan has caused worry at home, with some pacifist politicians warning of a "circle of violence."
Cycle. Cycle of violence. Please use the correct lefty hand wringing cliches.
Thank you.
According to German media reports earlier this month, the German government has revised some rules of engagement for German troops in Afghanistan to make it earlier for them to engage in combat. Some 3,700 German troops are deployed in Afghanistan as part of the 60,000-strong International Security Assistance Force led by NATO.