"For us ze war is over by teatime, ja," ran the headline in the Nov. 18 edition of the (London) Sunday Times. The British weekly accused the Germans of having abandoned their NATO allies in an offensive against the Taliban. Apparently, Bundeswehr medical evacuation helicopters pulled out in the middle of the battle because they needed to be back on home base by sundown. The other NATO forces were thus forced to retreat as well, the newspaper said.

"We were attacking the bad guys, then at three or four o'clock the helicopters are leaving," a Norwegian officer told the Sunday Times. "We had to go back to base. We should have had Norwegian helicopters. At least they can fly at night."

Abandoned by their Western allies, some 600 Afghan soldiers were also forced to retreat until a convoy of U.S. Humvees arrived the next day to reinforce them.

The article said the German unwillingness to fly at night is undermining Operation Desert Eagle, an allied offensive directed at the Taliban involving 500 NATO troops plus 1,000 Afghan soldiers and police. The Germans are not allowed to travel more than two hours from a hospital equipped for emergency surgery -- another issue that has fueled tensions between Germany and its NATO allies, who are angry that Bundeswehr troops keep away from the intense battles.

"(The Germans) spend much of their time in an enormous base, complete with beer halls and nightclubs, in Mazar-i-Sharif, a 90-minute flight from the fighting," the article said.

In Berlin, the accusations have been vehemently refuted.

"There is no ban on night flights," a German armed forces spokesman told the online version of German news magazine Der Spiegel.

Weather conditions could potentially limit the flight of German helicopters, the spokesman said, "but then it's not just us -- the others don't fly either." He added that no official complaint was filed from the Norwegians, and even the Scandinavians seem to doubt that things happened as described in the Sunday Times.

Lt. Col. John Inge Oeglaend of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters told Spiegel Online he has heard nothing concrete of the incident, adding the mission was not abruptly ended. "I have no idea how the officer on the battlefield came to such a conclusion," Oeglaend said.

Other nations on previous occasions have praised German efforts in northern Afghanistan, where numerous civic reconstruction projects (schools, bridges, water infrastructure) have been realized in the past years; moreover, the German emergency medical installations in Afghanistan are among the alliance's finest.

However, the German military spokesman confirmed a safety restriction mentioned in the article; it's true that Bundeswehr soldiers are not permitted to travel more than two hours away from hospitals with emergency surgery capabilities, he said.

The incident underlines how high tensions run in Afghanistan, where the West is fighting an uphill battle against the Taliban.

Germany has more than 3,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led, U.N.-mandated International Security Assistance Force. Roughly 500 soldiers run and maintain six Panavia Tornado jets that fly reconnaissance missions all over the country, and some 100 soldiers take part in the U.S.-led anti-terror mission Operation Enduring Freedom, but they are hardly ever called into action. Germany's lawmakers last week voted to renew German participation, despite widespread public opposition in the country.

While the renewed official German backing for OEF has soothed Washington, the country has in the past repeatedly come under fire for confining its troops to the northern provinces, where the number of roadside bombs and suicide attacks has increased, but where safety generally can be ensured. This is not the case in the southern provinces, where Germans have refused to go and where NATO forces are taking heavy fire from Taliban rebels.

Last year allegations surfaced that Germany had turned down a Canadian request for emergency help because the fighting was taking place in the southern provinces. At the time, the Bundeswehr also refuted these allegations.

While the pressure is increasing on Germany to join its allies in the south, observers say such a move will have to be tackled very soon or wait until after the next elections, in 2009. The issue is simply too hot to be touched shortly before voters go to the polls.

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