Guttenberg says Taliban waging 'war' against German troops

Breaking a long-standing semantic taboo in Berlin, German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said on Tuesday that Taliban forces are waging a "war" against the international community.

"Our engagement in Afghanistan has for years been a combat operation. But the feeling is - and not just among our troops - that the Taliban is waging a war against the soldiers of the international community," Guttenberg told daily newspaper Bild.

Guttenberg, who was sworn in last week as Germany's new defence minister following a general election in September, recalled that the law defines a war only as a conflict between two nations. But he also admitted the conflict in the strife-ridden country defied easy description.

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Unless it's a misquote or mistranslation by The Local, my Webster's dictionary disagrees with Herrn Guttenberg and/or "the law" and defines war not as "a conflict between two nations" but as follows:


What's going on in Afghanistan is definitely a war. Why politicians in Germany have shied away from this I do not know.

Maybe they think it's a "Police Action" ala Korea.

"War is the continuation of politics by other means." -Clausewitz

Thats one of the reasons why Jung was replaced by Guttenberg.
Jung's reputation in NATO worsened with many incidents like when u.s secretary of defense Robert Gates corrected him in front of journalists.
There was this famous press conference when a journalist asked Jung about the "war in Afghanistan" and Jung smiled and replied that there is no war in Afghanistan but just "a tactical situation" , you know this typical bureaucratese nonsense.
When the next question was directed at Gates he said "First of all , we ARE at war here"
Needless to say how embarrased Jung was. That was like a slap in the face, and that in front of all the media.
Im pretty sure that people within NATO and the Bundeswehr were already laughing about him behind his back.

Fleeting amusement at the expense of bureaucratic idiots (past) aside...this really has nothing to do with political correctness or semantics.

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that the way this “tactical situation” is characterized/portrayed in Berlin directly translates into how much materiel support the guys on the ground in Afghanistan (and Pakistan?) actually receive....which in turn spells the difference between life and death.

The only thing that is happening in Afghanistan is the continuation of another illegal invasion by western forces.

If one looks at the history of the place and the idea of it as a supporter and financial supplier of terrorists, then perhaps Germany should be invading the US...

You guys talk all you want, but one thing you have no figured out is that if you don;t stop these people who are fighting a religious war in their own backyard, that violence is going to come here to OUR backyards. Wake up!!!
I spent 3 years there, and believe me when I tell you, they aren't just going to give it up and rollover....

naaaaa, no worries mate! People here tend to have a lot of faith in the good ol' Ostrich method of strategic defense <inserting head in sand now> :-D

This is a conflict driven by the US.
They want the oil pipeline built to the coast and won't leave until they have the security to do so.
Nothing to do with terrorism, just you sheeple believe it because your boss (US) tells you it is.
The US will not pull out.. they never have and never will.
Once the US is on foreign soil, they stay.. name me one place where they withdrew ..
Even Somalia has a military base !
Cuba has a military base.....!
What the hell are they doing in Germany !..
Go Home Yank !

I'm not even American, but I feel compelled to defend historical accuracy.

Ok, ummm well for starters...France! Then more recently: Vietnam, Philippines, and Grenada (to name a but a few).

Well, at least he has the guts to call it like it is. Although Secretary Gates called it a war, President Obama refers to any "war on terrorism" as "international contingencies." That definitely rings of "police action" or "tactical situation."

Thanks Psypher for correcting the outright lies written by piper 1. The German govmt stood tall with the U.S in the days after 9/11/01, the country that supported it for decades and whose support was critical for German unification. Somebody will comment about the U.S. training the Afghan freedom fighters in the 80's, yeah, yeah. Just one more empty comment in the international blame game. And U.S military personnel have been drastically reduced in Germany in the past 15 years and now serve with Germany and others in common efforts for NATO. There aren't enough facts to support this revisionist nonsense

The use of the term war/krieg is only so that they can now trot out the old "we are sorry but awful things happen in war" to take some pressure off that commander who ordered the bombing of those fuel trucks.

As far as I understand it, the reason for german politicians to not call the Afghanistan conflict a war are:
- germans have this weird idea, that germany should never again take part in a war (except to defend their own or their NATO allies territory); dont know why, maybe they had some bad experience in the past...
- therefor german members of parliament might feel much more uneasy to approve a war engagement, than let´s say "peacekeeping" or "Aufbauhilfe"
- it´s debatable if according to the german constitution/ Grundgesetz, the german army can take part in a "war", just because a foreign government (in this case Afghanistan) asked for help
- someone might feel tempted to ask the constitutional court again and they could reevaluate the case and force the german government to draw all their troops out of Afghanistan

In fact Guttenberg didnt say "war", he said something like "warlike situation".