On the line

In an interview with the German mass circulation daily Bild Zeitung published Wednesday, US General Stanley McChrystal said that the north of the country, where the bulk of German forces are deployed, was "strategically crucial" to the stability of Afghanistan.

The four-star general who commands the international troops in Afghanistan said the Taliban had used the situation in the country's north to expand their operations and create the impression that the movement was active across the entire country.

McChrystal criticized the German Bundeswehr for patrolling mostly with heavily armored vehicles in its Kunduz operations area and not on foot, noting that the insurgents' goal was "to isolate the security forces from the populace."

Taliban trying to divide and conquer

The Taliban are trying "to create a situation where the security forces stay in their camps, never leave their armored vehicles and have very little contact with the population. The security forces may be there, but they are irrelevant. If the insurgents manage to achieve this, then they have accomplished their mission," McChrystal warned.

He stressed in the interview that it was hard for the Afghan people to trust their government "if they don't have the feeling they are protected and respected." The people, he said, don't know how strong the insurgents really are, or how determined the international community is.

McChrystal said that, like all the troops in Afghanistan, German forces needed to live with the greater risk of this new strategy. He said the Germans may have to change the way they have dealt with the situation so far. He added that he was planning to deploy American troops in the German sector in the near future.

He also noted that he would raise the issue at the international Afghanistan conference in London at the end of January and at the Munich security conference in Germany in early February.

gb/dpa/AP/AFP
Editor: Nancy Isenson