Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel faced
demands to explain Germany's unpopular Afghanistan deployment
as a parliamentary panel convened on Wednesday to probe damaging
allegations over a disputed air strike.
The commission is investigating the events of September
4, when a German commander called in a raid near the northern
city of Kunduz that killed up to 142 people, including several
civilians.
The officer could face criminal charges over what was the
deadliest German military action since World War II.
Media reports alleged this week that the bombing was
ordered to "destroy" Taliban militants, and not just two
stolen fuel trucks the commander feared would be used to
attack his troops.
If insurgents were the target, the opposition says, it
would point to a redefinition of the German mandate in
Afghanistan, away from peacekeeping and reconstruction duties
and toward a hotly disputed, and unauthorised, war.
The government denies any shift in policy.
Merkel is not expected to appear until January as a
witness in the case, which has already claimed the scalps of
Germany's top general and the defence minister at the time.
But opposition deputies are already turning up the heat
on Merkel over Germany's increasingly unclear mission in
Afghanistan, where it is the number-three supplier of foreign
troops with 4,300 soldiers.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 23:42