Our German Allies in Afghanistan

Here are two stories concerning the same topic, German soldiers in Afghanistan. In one, their lack of fighting will led to the death of some British SAS troopers, the British equivalent of our SEALs or Delta force.

They both come from Der Spiegel, although via two very divergent routes.

Here is the first one.

German special forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in Afghanistan. But he escaped -- because the Germans were not authorized to use lethal force. The German government's hands-tied approach to the war is causing friction with its NATO allies.

The NATO forces in Afghanistan are called ISAF, International Security Assistance Force, but in the eyes of at least one 10th Mountain division soldier it stands for "They Suck At Fighting".

Now here is the second story from a group who has no Rules of Engagement and who are very open about who the enemy is and want they intend to do to them.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The three Germans killed weren't even combat troops, they were army employees in charge of purchasing refrigerators for the troops' kitchen.

Haqqani: It is not important what kind of soldiers they were. What's important is to kill and hammer out the Germans in Kunduz. The Germans are the most important enemy in the north and because they are stationed in Kunduz, the city will soon become the Kandahar of the north.

Haqqani is a Taliban commander in Afghanistan. To him all Germans are soldiers, just like all Israelis are soldiers to Hamas and Hezbollah.

Dear American citizen, do you have any doubt that they view you as enemy soldiers also? Barry O wants to just sit down down and talk to these folks and make everything all right and scare the bogeyman out of the closet.

If they are not going to let the German forces fight, then get them the hell out of the way. Take them back home so they can get fat on bratwurst and drunk on beer. Then when the radical Islamists in their midst go on a spree of spontaneous detonation we can see if they still believe in their limited rules of engagement.