German jihadists

Heavily armed, sometimes disguised or covered in elaborate headgear - this is how the German jihadists present themselves on the Internet.

Online, they post video messages where they pose in front of flags embroidered with verses from the Koran, or demonstrate their shooting skills backed by bombastic music. They call for a holy war against the infidels, boasting of attacks on foreign troops and threatening future assaults.

A new video emerges

A few days ago, a new video emerged showing the fighters taking part in target practice at a training camp in Afghanistan. In the 31-minute-long video, the five German-speaking jihadists claimed responsibility for two attacks on American military installations in Afghanistan.

They call themselves the German Taliban Mujahideen and are a relatively new group, according to Yassin Musharbash, an editor at German news portal Spiegel Online and an expert on Islamic terrorism.

“There seems to be between six and 10 German-speaking fighters who are in Afghanistan, apparently acting under the command of the Afghan Taliban,” he said. They appear to have made their first online appearance in the fall.

German Taliban

According to Musharbash's assessment, the German Taliban Mujahideen (DTM) formed from the scattered remnants of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a relatively small group that had been active in Afghanistan for years. The four young men of the so-called "Sauerland" group in Germany also belonged to the IJU. They were sentenced to long prison terms in March for preparing planned terrorist attacks in Germany.

“It's my impression that the IJU has been mostly destroyed,” said Musharbash. Only a few sporadic traces remain of the group on the Internet. The marauding foreign fighters of the IJU apparently slipped under the wing of the Afghan Taliban. There, the German jihadists were able to form their own brigade, the DTM.

Musharbash speculated that their involvement in the attacks on the American and Afghan bases, referenced in the video, could have been a sort of internship for the men.

“The Afghan Taliban seem to have taken them along on two attacks - that's what it looks like to me,” he said. “And for their part, the German jihadists made a big propaganda video for the German-speaking public, to show that they're not just sitting around but actually taking part."

German jihadists in the Hindukush

In the estimation of security experts, about 100 Germans have made their way to Afghanistan and Pakistan to allegedly train in terror camps and fight alongside the Taliban against foreign soldiers.

Many of them come from middle-class German families and converted to Islam. Others are the sons or grandsons of Muslim immigrants who have lived in Germany for years. What they all have in common is that they either discovered Islam as new converts or, as Muslims, rediscovered their faith and quickly became radicalized.

“What is new is that many of these converts have taken their families with them to Afghanistan,” said Musharbash. With wives and children in tow, the German-speaking jihadists moved to the Hindukush to take part in the fight against the troops of the International Security Assistance Force.

Some of them have since returned home, with possible plans to carry out attacks in Germany in a worst-case scenario. But a few dozen are likely still in Afghanistan, according to Musharbash.

Does this mean that German Taliban are fighting against German soldiers?

War against international troops

Musharbash explains that the Taliban are targeting foreign troops in Afghanistan, no matter where they come from. “The Germans aren't the Taliban's number one target and won't become it. The Taliban are fighting, as best they can, against all NATO soldiers,” he said.

Musharbash said Taliban are just as happy about Romanian deaths as they are about German deaths. He said the Taliban shouldn't be overestimated - they aren't even able to reliably distinguish German soldiers from foreign troops. In the case of the recently killed Bundeswehr troops, the Taliban claimed responsibility, although it has not yet emerged whether the Taliban knew they were attacking German troops.

Author: Bettina Marx (cmk)
Editor: Chuck Penfold