Eine mörderische Entscheidung (2013)

April 2009 – Five months before the bombing of the fuel tankers, Bundeswehr Colonel Georg Klein begins his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Little is known about him; he has no children and loves classical music. He is briefed on the current situation and told that the insurgents are highly mobile in the German battalion’s area of operations. A Taliban leader announces into the microphones held out to him that their goal is to shoot German soldiers and free the country from them. One of the young soldiers, who has arrived recently just like Klein, hears a man who has been deployed there longer say: “We show a presence; they’re supposed to see that we’re here, present on every street.” At the same time, the Taliban are organizing in the surrounding villages. On their first mission, the young soldiers find themselves in a dangerous situation while on patrol, but manage to withdraw in time thanks to an informant affiliated with the Taliban. The Taliban have recruited a teenage boy as a suicide bomber. When his desperate father tries to stop his son from sacrificing himself, he is beaten and told that the boy volunteered. Another father says that the Taliban knock on their doors at night and demand that they hand over their sons. A short time later, the recruited teenager drives along the road in a car. Tears run down his young face, and his hand trembles on the bomb detonator, which will mean his death. Then the car explodes. This time, no one is killed apart from the teenager; five German soldiers are lightly injured. On another patrol, Sergej Motz trades places with a fellow soldier and finds himself in an exposed position directly behind the machine gun on the tank. Suddenly, the armored column comes under fire from all sides. The soldiers return fire, but the machine gun on the tank Motz is in jams. As they try to pass him another weapon, he is hit in the neck. They cannot stop the bleeding, and his comrades despair. “Wake up, wake up, you can’t do this,” one of them cries desperately. Later, when Colonel Klein speaks with the young soldiers, he says that the value of a life is paramount to him, then, at a loss for words, stammers, “… I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” In a conversation with military chaplain Wolfram Schmidt, he seeks justification. Schmidt replies that he cannot absolve him; only God can do that. A few days later, Klein addresses the soldiers to tell them that some rules have been adapted to the actual circumstances and the situation on the ground. He sums this up by saying: “To put it simply, if the situation requires it, then shoot—and not just at their legs.” Soon afterward, the situation escalates again. When a car fails to stop despite repeated warnings, a soldier fires. “My son, my son,” a voice is heard crying, and the image of a young man who has been hit appears. In a private conversation, BND agent Henry Diepholz tells Klein that Bundeswehr Inspector General General Wolfgang Schneiderhan is pressing for demonstrable successes. There will be no record of what is discussed here. A short time later, the brother of the governor of Kunduz Province is killed, triggering a serious crisis of trust between the governor and the German commanders in the command center. September 3–4, 2009 – Airstrike near Kunduz On September 3, 2009, the Taliban seize two fuel tankers carrying 58,000 liters of gasoline. One driver is killed, and the other is brutally beaten when he tries to resist. The hijacked tankers become stuck in the Kunduz River, about seven kilometers as the crow flies from the Bundeswehr camp. The Taliban force farmers to provide tractors to pull the tankers out of the river. But with the fuel still in them, they are too heavy, so the people are told they can come and collect fuel, which many do. At around 11:00 that day, the soldiers are ambushed, and three of them are injured. On September 4, 2009, the informant contacts Oliver Nordhausen, an intelligence officer with Task Force 47, with whom he has been in contact, and reports that the entire Taliban leadership is in the area where the captured tankers are. It is known that the informant sometimes gets his information from a sub-informant. It is again confirmed that only members of the Taliban are in the area and that there are no innocent people there. In reality, many adults from the nearby villages, as well as children, have gone there. What happens next is up to Colonel Klein. The soldiers are told to prepare for 50 to 70 insurgents at the target site. They are assured that they have reliable information that everyone operating there is an insurgent. As the informant, who is helping elderly people in the area carry the fuel, heads back toward the sandbank, he is warned not to go back to the river under any circumstances. “We’re running out of time,” Klein says, and Diepholz replies that this is the classic dilemma. After all, there are clear indications that the Taliban are planning an attack on the German camp. He is also the one who repeatedly tries to influence Klein to act in line with his own view. Klein does not take the decision lightly. When word comes that the U.S. bomber pilots called in to provide support propose flying lower to disperse the people with their aircraft and only then destroy the tankers, the colonel firmly rejects the idea. Earlier, they had repeatedly voiced doubts that there was an immediate threat. The atmosphere is nervous and tense. Klein’s decision is based on his assumption that the Taliban plan to remove the fuel from the tankers and later use it to blow up the camp near Kunduz, meaning there is an imminent danger. He gives the order: “Prepare to attack; set everything else aside. We’re one minute away. One minute until the bombs are released.” Shortly after the bombs are dropped, the informant contacts them again and reports that there are probably about 70 dead Taliban, including two of the four most-wanted leaders. Rahmann and another leader escaped.