Mixed Reactions to Troop Deployment in Kunduz

Reactions from German humanitarian organizations to Wednesday's decision to expand the German military's mandate in Afghanistan beyond Kabul have ranged from outright criticism to cautious optimism.

Fears for stability

Many, including groups like Caritas International, a Catholic charity, fear a military presence in areas not currently covered by the international security force already there could actually increase the danger for civilian relief workers trying to provide supplies to Afghans. They also fear it could make them more vulnerable as targets for Taliban or al Qaeda sympathizers.

The director of the German disaster relief organization Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, Hannelore Hensler, described the expected deployment in the Kunduz region as "not a suitable way to bring peace and stability to the country.” Both Caritas International and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe have been active in Afghanistan since October 2001.

Red Cross registers support

Other organizations, including the German Red Cross, issued statements of support for the decision to station 250 Bundeswehr troops in Kunduz, located approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Kabul. Red Cross spokesman Frederik Barkenhammar said he supported efforts of the German government to strengthen security in the region, but warned that a clear boundaries had to be set between the work done by aid workers and soldiers.

“Aid organizations like us suffer when the military takes on classic humanitarian tasks,” Barkenhammar said.

Defense Minister Peter Struck dismissed the criticism from aid groups that the military presence in Kunduz could be counterproductive. He said aid organizations often underestimated the dangers they faced on the ground.

"The aid organizations should be thankful that we are there and offer protection," he told the ARD television network. "In Afghanistan there are groups who'd like nothing more than see them forced out of the country."

Kunduz: the wrong choice?

Other organizations voiced criticism of the government’s decision to send troops to a relatively stable region like Kunduz. Uli Post, spokesman for the German Committee for the Fight against Hunger, described Kunduz as one of the “most secure” regions outside Kabul, adding that help in other parts of Afghanistan was more urgently needed.

Stefan Recker, who is organizing the group's efforts to build wells and facilities for distributing clean drinking water, suggested that the Bundeswehr instead deploy troops to the many areas that are difficult for groups like his to reach, where the need for drinking water and other necessities is severe. He points to the Ghor province as an example. Long Afghanistan’s poorest, the region lacks schools, water and any form of basic
infrastructure.

“In winter, it snows and the streets turn into muddy pits,” Recker said.

Contrary to his colleagues at other organizations who have opposed working with the Bundeswehr, Recker said the army’s helicopters and heavy equipment would make it far easier to reach these people than anything civilian groups could come up with.

But how safe is Kunduz? Shelter Germany chairman Udo Stolten said that although the region is relatively secure, the situation could change quickly.

“It can certainly come to conflict quickly if people don’t understand the cultural climate,” warned Stolten, whose international parent organization, Shelter Now, has been operating close to 20 aid projects in Afghanistan since 1988.

Ronald Gegenfurtner, heads of Peace Village International in Dinslaken, Germany, offered a more historically circumspect take on the Bundeswehr engagement. “If all of the money that has been spent during the past 20 years for military equipment had instead been used for humanitarian aid – community work, for example – we wouldn’t have to be dealing with this now.”