Germany; cuckolded in AFG

Let me quote myself from 17 JAN 2008 about our NATO allies in AFG:

The hints are getting stronger - Daddy is thinking about taking back the keys.

An older country - the German translation for this is,

'The US Is Taking the Reins out of Our Hands"

Well Der Spiegle - if you're just now figuring it out, then you need to read more CDR Salamander.

On Sunday, Afghan President Karzai and US chief commander McChyrstal met with tribal leaders in Kunduz. The spontaneous visit came as a surprise to the Germans forces in command of the northern area. Diplomats now believe it will become the site of a major new offensive.
...
The visit also indicated to Germany that larger joint missions between the US Army and Afghan units against the Taliban in Kunduz are imminent. Diplomats even expect major offensives to take place around the area where Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, are stationed this summer that are similar in scale to the one launched a few weeks ago in Marja in southern Afghanistan. Karzai didn't officially announce any such plans in Kunduz this time, but he organized similar meetings in Helmand, the province where Marja is located, prior to the operation there in a bid to garner support from tribal leaders.
...General McChrystal has identified Kunduz as a second crisis zone -- following the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar -- and wants to fight far more aggressively in the region.
...
Meanwhile, US troops have found a fervent supporter in the governor of Kunduz Province. At the meeting with Karzai, Mohammad Omar called again for a tougher NATO crackdown. "Not only is the situation going to get worse here, but other provinces in the region will also be destabilized," Omar said. He spoke concretely about Germany's strict rules of engagement, which prevent its troops from carrying out an offensive strike against the Taliban. In the past, Omar consistently praised the US Army's rigid actions. Now he's calling on all NATO countries to relocate combat troops to the north.

It's still largely unclear what role Germany's Bundeswehr would play in an offensive against the Taliban. German troops have observed US special units accessing areas located very close to their base almost every night in recent weeks. German forces were generally kept informed about recent deployments of these tough, elite troops, but the Germans don't learn who the troops arrest or kill, or what the US's overall strategy in Kunduz may be. "The US is taking the reins out of our hands," one high-ranking officer says.

My readers have been hearing this for years - but I'll review again.

The minority report at Christmas '06 was: the USA made a mistake giving control of AFG to NATO. We should ignore the promises and overly optiminstic plans coming out of Mons.

By the summer of '07 when NATO couldn't even scrap together some cargo helicopters and would not find the needed caveat free maneuver battalions - the understanding took root that NATO had culminated and Uncle Sam needed to find a way take back the keys without losing AFG and/or break NATO.

Through '08 the plan was made and execution began. We watched it adjust and fill out through '09. We will see through this year the tipping point when we split Regional Command South into Southeast and Southwest as the British are moved north and east, CAN and NLD start packing their bags, and the USMC reinforces their stamp in the hardest part of AFG.

Europe has to face the fact that they have been measured and found wanting. We would not have the problems we are having now if DEU, FRA, TUR, GRC, BEL, ESP, ITA and others in NATO had from '05/'06 had the same attitude as USA, GBR, CAN, NLD, EST, DNK and the Baltic nations.

Don't complain when others have to clean up your mess. Sad. The German military could have done great things.