End of Isolation

ISLAMABAD/MUZAFFARABAD/BERLIN (Own Report) - The Federal Armed Forces will participate at the NATO mission in the earthquake area in Pakistan with four army helicopters Type CH-53 GS. This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Defence. The contested intervention of the Western war alliance extends the regional sphere of action of the German army, which acts as a leading occupying power in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Federal Army has long-standing contacts with the military of Pakistan, for which German training support and German weapons are at disposal. The current mission within the disaster region contributes to an opening of the former prohibited military area of Kashmir for Western intervention measures, and strengthens the position of the NATO states in direct neighbourhood of the People's Republic of China. The allied NATO-forces on the other hand compete for a favourable initial position around Beijing.

The four German army helicopters (CH-53 G) replace the former troop contingent that has been sent to Pakistan recently, which consisted of about 70 soldiers and two modernized helicopters (CH-53 GS); they are currently needed during military operations in occupied Afghanistan. There the army leaders prefer the deployment of the improved and armoured helicopter model CH-53 GS, which has the proper equipment for the defence of anti-aircraft missiles and can be armed for wars.[1] The German helicopters that were arranged for the deployment in Pakistan are deployed under the "Joint Headquarters Lisbon" of the NATO. The NATO control centre established an office for coordination of the measures and sent off a high military officer to Pakistan. The Western troops there move around in areas, which have been prohibited until the occurrence of the earthquake and are considered as one of the areas most sensitive to crises within the world.

Long-Standing Relationships

In Pakistan the Federal army has traditional relationships to influential circles within the army, which enjoy continuous German support. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states, Berlin provides Islamabad with military trainings , "in order to use and maintain the long-standing relationships that exist for decades."[2] This would also be true for "moderate" elements of the Pakistani army. The formulation circumscribes a supposed German non-party orientation and shall take into account the acrimonious Pakistani fights among parties. Currently a military group is ruling, which came to power by a military coup in October 1999. Despite the dictatorial relations under General Pervez Musharraf in April 2004 a Pakistani delegation under guidance of the chief general of the army met with general inspector of the Federal Army, General Wolfgang Schneiderhan. A few weeks later the Pakistanis participated at an international forum, that collected "security experts (...) from the areas of the Ministries for Internal Affairs and Defences as well of the Information Services" in the George C. Marshall Center (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).[3]

Spare Parts

The Pakistani army, which has been involved into skirmishes at the Indian border again and again and participates in the North Western areas of the countries in fights against Afghan rebells, does not only receive educational endowment from Berlin but also weapons and arms from Germany. In 2002 armoured all-terrain vehicles worth about a quarter of a million Euro were delivered to Pakistan, three years before Islamabad had paid 1,5 million German Marks for German military equipment. The armour export report of the Federal Government for 2003 lists "spare parts for communication equipment and radar units which had been delivered from Germany in the past" of a value of about 900.000 Euro. Further deliveries were performed through third countries and are not registered in German weapon export lists. The Pakistani army also owes its nuclear technology to German enterprises, with whose help they succeeded in developing their own nuclear arms.[4]

Initial Position

The current intervention of Federal Army and NATO in the Pakistani earthquake region contributes to an opening of the former military zone that was prohibited to Western influence. The necessary reconstruction measures in Kashmir were only possible "by international help". The FDP-near Friedrich-Naumann Foundation presumes that the necessary reconstruction measures are only possible "by international support": Therefore "the regional can no more be isolated and remain military deployment zone".[5] The dominating NATO power USA competes with France and Germany about the tactically and geographically favourable position at the borders to the People's Republic of China.

Leading Nation

The current attempt of Berlin, to strengthen its position in Kashmir complements other programs, which contribute since fairly long time to the strengthening of German influence on the security systems and governmental bureaucracies of the country. In the past year several federal states [6] started training courses for the police of Pakistan; Germany that is said to be the "leading nation" for the establishment of the Afghan security forces [7] is moreover involved into the education of Iraqi police forces [8]. In this way it strengthens the cross-linkages between middle-Eastern and central-Asian repression forces with Berlin. The governmental bureaucracies of Pakistan are also under German influence. In Islamabad the Hans-Seidel-Foundation, which is close to the CSU (Christian-Social Union), conducted "trainings" for the Pakistani administration of the parliament, leads the establishment of a "Parliamentarian support service" and supports the establishment of "regional and international political contacts and institutions".

Pakistan is said to be a tight ally of the People's Republic of China and is getting into contradictions to the interests of Beijing in the face of the NATO activities.

[1] "Die Rettungsflieger", eine Gemeinschaftsproduktion des Zweiten Deutschen Fernsehens ZDF und der Bundeswehr; www.rettungsflieger.bundeswehr.de
[2] Südasien. Aufgaben der deutschen Außenpolitik am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts; Berlin Mai 2002
[3] Marshall Kurse; www.bmvg.de/redaktionen/bwde/bmvgbase.nsf/ CurrentBaseLink/N264WRSJ314MMISDE
[4] see also Hintergrundbericht: Deutschland auf dem Weg zur Atommacht
[5] Pakistan: Hilfe konkret; www.fnst.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-449/ _nr-471/_p-1/i.html
[6] Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt
[7] see also Deutschland "Führungsnation beim Polizeiaufbau" in Afghanistan
[8] see also Deutsche Tradition

see also Aufholjagd und Im Schatten der Katastrophe (II)


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