Spy Mission Approved
March 9, 2007
Under the mandate, German pilots will pass on intelligence to NATO commanders, but will not engage in any combat operations.
A total of 405 deputies voted for the deployment and 157 against, with 11 abstentions. The jets are expected to be dispatched in April. The Bundesrat or the upper house of parliament will likely vote on the deployment this month.
Opposition deputies claimed the decision would drag German forces into combat in the south of Afghanistan where NATO this week launched an offensive against the Taliban.
Germany has around 3,000 troops in the landlocked Asian nation, mostly working in civilian-military provincial reconstruction teams in the relatively peaceful north.
NATO has some 35,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, which has recently seen an increase in attacks by remnants of the Taliban.
Deployment clouded by killing of aid worker
The vote was overshadowed by the killing of a German engineer on Thursday -- the first German aid worker killed in Afghanistan since US forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.
Development Assistance Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said that the assistance provided by aid workers in Afghanistan deserved respect and gratitude, and would continue despite Thursday's tragic event.
The minister called on the Afghan government to discover who was behind the slaying of Dieter Rübling, 65, and bring the assailants to justice.
Afghan police on Friday arrested six people on suspicion of involvement in the killing, which took place in the province of Sar-e-Pul where the engineer was on an inspection tour.
An Afghan official said that more than 100 additional police were sent to the area to track down the culprits as part of a joint investigation with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Ideological motives
Rübling -- who worked for a non-denominational Bonn-based aid foundation, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, which uses the English name Agro Action -- was traveling with his Afghan colleagues. Their convoy was attacked by a group of armed men, who let the Afghans go before shooting the German.
Agro Action Secretary General Joachim Preuss said the engineer was on a three-month tour of duty in Afghanistan and had many years of experience in international development aid projects.
Preuss said it appeared "ideological motives" were behind the murder and not criminal actions.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday "strongly condemned" the murder of the German aid worker.
"We the Afghan people appreciate all foreign nationals who are in Afghanistan helping in the reconstruction of the country," presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi told dpa.