Deadly Afghanistan air strike still haunts Germany, 10 years on

The news that most of the casualties in the 2009 attack were civilians dispelled the notion that Germany could wage a ‘clean war’

It also sapped public support in the country for the Nato-led mission in Afghanistan

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Afghan police inspect the site where fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban were bombed outside Kunduz in 2009. Photo: AP

Published: 6:42pm, 4 Sep 2019Updated: 6:42pm, 4 Sep 2019

Lawyers for the Afghan survivors of a 2009 Nato air strike say they are still seeking adequate compensation for their clients and a criminal prosecution of the German officer who ordered the bombing.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s 10th anniversary, lawyer Karim Popal accused Germany of shirking its responsibility toward the relatives and victims of the Sept. 4, 2009, air strike in Kunduz.

Scores of people died when US Air Force jets bombed two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban. The strike was ordered by the commander of the German base in Kunduz, Georg Klein, who feared insurgents could use the trucks to carry out attacks.

Contrary to the intelligence Klein based his decision on, most of those swarming the trucks were local civilians invited by the Taliban to siphon fuel from the vehicles after they had become stuck in a riverbed.

Popal said he hoped the European Court of Human Rights will hear the case later this year after German authorities refused to prosecute Klein, who had since been promoted to the rank of brigadier general. The case was brought on behalf of Abdul Hanan, an Afghan man who lost two sons in the air strike.

German military commander Georg Klein, left, pictured with US General Stanley McChrystal in 2009. Photo: AP

A separate civil case is pending before Germany’s Constitutional Court, seeking to establish that German authorities have liability for events that took place outside the country.