PRESSURE IS growing on Chancellor Angela Merkel to fire a former defence minister from cabinet after claims he withheld details of a controversial Nato air strike last September in Afghanistan.
Franz Josef Jung, now labour minister, refused to resign yesterday, leaving it to Germany’s top soldier and a senior defence ministry official to stand down over leaks suggesting they knew far more than previously claimed about the events of September 4th. “I acted appropriately, based on what I knew at the time,” Mr Jung told the Bundestag.
After Taliban forces hijacked two petrol tanks in the German-patrolled northern region of Kunduz, a German general ordered an air strike that killed 146 people, including between 30 and 40 civilians.
It was the most deadly military operation involving German soldiers since the end of the second World War.
At the time, Mr Jung claimed that only Taliban insurgents were killed, only to later backtrack.
Reports leaked yesterday suggested he knew early on there were civilian casualties. The leaked reports suggest too that the ministry was aware that the strike was not carried out in line with Nato procedures.
A video from the US aircraft that carried out the strike on German orders was leaked to the Bild tabloid and shows figures milling around the two tankers that had become lodged in a river bed. According to reports, locals ordered by the Taliban to help free the petrol tanker wheels began helping themselves to the petrol before the bombing.
Hours after yesterday’s leaks, Bundeswehr inspector general Wolfgang Schneiderhan announced his resignation. He was followed by senior defence ministry official Peter Wichert, accused of suppressing a critical report on the strikes written by German generals on the ground in Afghanistan.
Until now Berlin has declined to release a second, Nato-authored report into the events.
The new defence minister, Karl- Theodor Guttenberg, confirmed the main claims of the leaks yesterday morning. He said he had only been made aware the previous day that information had been suppressed.
Chancellor Angela Merkel distanced herself from Mr Jung, her little-loved Christian Democrat (CDU) colleague yesterday, demanding “full transparency” in clearing up the details of the attack.
The controversy cast a shadow over the Berlin visit of Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen who, like Dr Merkel, gave a cool assessment of Mr Jung’s role in events.
In the Bundestag, the revelations added fire to a parliamentary debate over extending Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan. The current annual mandate expires on December 13th.
Opposition leaders are demanding the resignation of Mr Jung. Their line of attack is: if he was aware of the civilian casualties, he lied to parliament; if not, he was not in control of his ministry.
“It’s simply not on that second- or third-rank people take the consequences,” said Green Party MP Hans-Christian Ströbele in a television interview. “At the very least, Mr Jung bears the political responsibility.”
Germany contributes the third largest troop contingent in Afghanistan, with 4,245 soldiers. The seven-year mission has claimed 63 German lives and is deeply unpopular.
