With a contingent of 5,350 soldiers and policemen, Germany is one of the main contributors of troops to coalition operations in Afghanistan. Although German troops mainly operate in the comparatively quiet north of the country, the Bundeswehr has suffered a number of casualties during participation in the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan.
Overview
As of May 5, 2013, 54 German soldiers and three policemen died in Afghanistan, raising the death toll to 57. Among them are the first German reservists to fall in hostile actions and the first German policemen to die in a deployment abroad since World War II. In addition to these fatalities, 245 German soldiers and four police officers suffered injuries of varying degree caused by hostile activity.
Controversy
The number of fatalities has caused a stir in Germany since it is the highest of all deployments abroad that the German army has ever participated in since World War II and because the German participation in the conflict is controversial. ISAF participation marks the first time since World War II that German ground troops have been confronted with an organized enemy. Prior to 2002, the Armed Forces had sustained only two losses of life connected to direct hostile activities,. As a direct result of the number of deaths, German Federal Minister of Defence, Franz Josef Jung, presented plans to establish a central memorial for fallen soldiers in Berlin on June 17, 2007. Furthermore, the Bundeswehr has unveiled a new order which is to honour acts of heroism achieved in deployments abroad: The Cross of Honour for Bravery. An incident that occurred on June 26, 2005 which was at first declared an accident by the Cabinet of Germany turned out to have been an attack with a remote-controlled device. The cause of death of a soldier who died on September 8, 2007 at an unknown location in Afghanistan has not yet been disclosed. It appears to be a result of suicide. The cause of death of two soldiers who died in the first half of 2003 has yet to be disclosed. As no official sources specify the circumstances of their deaths, they are very likely not connected to hostile action. In a statement published on February 2, 2008, Herr Jung mentioned a number of 26 German soldiers who had been killed in Afghanistan. In a 2010 interview, KSK commander Hans-Christoph Ammon said that no KSK soldiers had so far been killed in action. However, a press release from the US European Command confirmed that at least one soldier was wounded in action in Afghanistan sometime between June and October 2005.
