Speaking on the occasion of the second anniversary of a NATO bombing in Kunduz which reportedly killed up to 142 people, Wolfgang Gehrcke stressed his country was 'much deeper' involved in the controversial target killing of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
'Germany is much deeper stuck in this whole problem ...,' he said. Gehrcke made clear that while German troops, unlike their American counterparts, have not been actively involved in the lethal hunt for Taliban insurgents, they have provided the US side with the list of names.
The nominees for the list are selected at a secret closed-door meeting at the German defense ministry and the names for the target killings are directly approved by the German defense minister, according to Gehrcke. He reiterated the German role in the Afghan target killings was a violation of the German constitution.
Gehrcke emphasized that by placing the name of someone on the list, one is also involved in the killing of that person. The issue of target killings gained prominence in Germany in the aftermath of a lethal US raid on the residence of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan in May.
Most Germans did not approve of the US killing of Bin Laden. There had also been public criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel for welcoming Bin Laden's death, as many Germans openly question whether the US murder of Bin Laden who was not armed at the time of the American attack, was even legal or ethical.
Even German media outlets seriously questioned whether the US action was in line with international laws. German Family Minister Kristina Schroeder caused also a public stir in May after openly advocating target killing as a way of liquidating terrorists. 'One cannot say that such an instrument should not be allowed,' she was quoted saying.
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