Japan Press Weekly

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2014 June 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

55 German troops killed in logistics operations in Afghan War

Having changed constitutional interpretations just as the Abe government is scheming, Germany now sends its troops outside the NATO region and has lost 55 soldiers in logistics support activities in the Afghanistan War.

Germany’s Constitution, the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, had banned wars of aggression since the end of WWII. The government’s official view, until the 1990 reunification, was that it can field its forces only inside the NATO region.

However, criticized by the United States for not dispatching troops to the Gulf War in 1991, the German government reinterpreted the Basic Law in order to make it possible to deploy forces beyond the region.

Since then, 103 soldiers have died due to their deployment abroad. Of them, 37 were killed in action and 21 committed suicide. Last year alone, 1,423 personnel were diagnosed with PTSD.

In the beginning, Germany sent troops to Afghanistan, where NATO invoked the right to collective self-defense, for the purpose of maintaining peace to help with NATO’s reconstruction work and humanitarian assistance.

While there, they got drawn into battle. In 2009, 70 innocent civilians were killed in Afghanistan in an airstrike mistakenly requested by German forces. Germany again became a war assailant.

What if Japan acquires the right to collectively fight wars? Looking at Germany, the consequence is as clear as day.