Germany collaborate with US on Taliban target killing list: report
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Jul 31, IRNA -- The Hamburg-based weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday that the German military has collaborated with the US in the controversial target killings of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
Atlhough German troops, unlike their American counterparts, have not been actively involved in the lethal hunt for Taliban commanders, they have provided the US side with names of Taliban leaders.
The name of one Taliban commander, Qari Bashir, was placed on the NATO hit list by Germany, according to Der Spiegel.
Bashir was killed by US special forces during a military operation near Kunduz in November 2009.
The Germans have reportedly added 13 names to the hit list since 2007.
German defense ministry spokesman Christian Dienst was quoted saying earlier this week that German elite forces were exercising "self-restraint" in their chase for Taliban leaders by merely capturing and not killing them.
The German official's remarks followed a report by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks, saying the American elite force Task Force 373 had reportedly been involved in target killings in northern Afghanistan which is under German military command.
The secret US files detailed six years of the Afghanistan war revealing damning details of unreported cases of Afghan civilian deaths and a widening insurgency abetted by Pakistan.
The secret US military records about the war in Afghanistan were leaked to the media by WikiLeaks, and published by the New York Times, British daily The Guardian and German weekly Der Spiegel.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 1254849
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