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German Supply Lines Flow With Beer in Afghanistan
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Worries about the fitness of German troops are not new. In March, an armed forces report found that more than 40 percent of soldiers ages 18 to 29 were overweight -- compared with 35 percent of German civilians of the same age.
About 70 percent of the soldiers were heavy smokers. Nearly one in 10 was described as clinically obese.
The March report concluded that the rank and file quaffed too much beer and ate too many sausages, while avoiding fruit and vegetables. It also blamed a stifling military bureaucracy for contributing to soldiers' "passive lifestyle."
"The disclosures are alarming," Robbe said at the time. "Plainly put, the soldiers are too fat, exercise too little and take little care of their diet."
Germany joined the NATO mission in Afghanistan in 2001, and its soldiers represent the third-biggest foreign contingent in the country, after those of Britain and the United States. But German troops don't do much fighting. Nearly all of them are prohibited from combat duty, by order of the German Parliament. They are also restricted to bases in northern Afghanistan, where conditions are relatively peaceful.
The United States and other NATO members have pressured Germany for years to loosen the restrictions and take a more active role in fighting the Taliban. Despite heavy domestic opposition, lawmakers voted last month to increase the German deployment to 4,500. They kept the combat restrictions in place.
With national elections looming next year, German officials have told their NATO allies not to expect any more help. But diplomats are bracing for some arm-twisting from a politician with sky-high approval ratings in Germany: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.
"Now Germany has the U.S. president it wanted," wrote Der Spiegel, a national news magazine. But it added that Berlin was "afraid that Obama will soon ask the question that virtually no one in Germany wants to hear: Could you send more troops to Afghanistan?"
In the meantime, the flow of German booze to Afghanistan shows no sign of slowing down.
During the first six months of 2008, the Bundeswehr shipped more than 135,000 gallons of beer to Afghanistan, a 3.5 percent increase over the same period the year before.
