General Petraeus Asks for German AWACS Crews in Afghanistan

U.S. General David Petraeus, Commander of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) troops in Afghanistan, has requested German support for the monitoring of Afghan airspace by Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. Up to one hundred German soldiers are needed to man the flying radar stations in the skies over Afghanistan, according to a report in Der Spiegel magazine.

The German government has tried to delay the request in past weeks in order to avoid an embarrassing denial of the request. Berlin fears that the AWACS mission would be difficult to justify politically and that a new parliamentary mandate would be necessary. Now Germany is faced with having to come up with a reason for its refusal. Berlin says it wouldn’t try to block the mission, but it also wouldn’t agree to commit German military personnel to support it. AWACS opponents in the offices of the Minister of Defense and the Foreign Office argue that every German soldier is currently needed for Germany’s mission to train Afghan national security forces. Germany’s hesitant posture on the reconnaissance mission could imperil the entire operation since a considerable portion of responsibility for it lies with the Germans.