BOOZE IMPORTS TO AFGHANISTAN Over a Million Liters of Alcohol for Thirsty Soldiers

[Meursault]

BOOZE IMPORTS TO AFGHANISTAN
Over a Million Liters of Alcohol for Thirsty Soldiers

More than a million liters of alcoholic drinks were sent to troops based at German camps in Afghanistan last year. Opposition politicians in Germany have voiced alarm at the amount of alcohol being consumed by Bundeswehr soldiers.

It seems reconstructing a conflict-battered Afghanistan can be thirsty work. It has emerged that huge amounts of alcohol were sent to soldiers based at German camps in the north of the country last year.

Bundeswehr soldiers serving with ISAF in Afghanistan.
Opposition politicians voiced concern Wednesday following the disclosure that more than a million litres of alcohol were sent to camps in Afghanistan over just one year.

The camps where German soldiers are stationed along with some other troops serving with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), received about 990,000 litres of beer and 69,000 litres of wine and sparkling wine in 2007, according to media reports on Wednesday.

And this year the total is on track to rise, with some 512,000 litres of beer and 42,000 litres of wine being sent out in the first six months of 2008. When the drinks arrrive, they are put up for sale in German-run shops at the camps, most in the relatively peaceful north, where 3,600 Bundeswehr soldiers are stationed.

The amount of alcohol supplied to the troops emerged after the opposition Free Democrats (FDP) submitted a request for information to the German Defence Ministry. The FDP quickly seized on the figures as evidence that not enough was being done to keep soldiers entertained in their spare time.

Elke Hoff, an FDP defence expert, told the German tabloid Bild, where the figures were published Wednesday: "Alcohol obviously plays an alarming role in the Bundeswehr camps." She posed the question: "Is alcohol replacing a lack of other activities?"

But as Germany digs in for a long stay in Afghanistan, it looks like the alcohol imports for the Bundeswehr soldiers will be continuing for some time to come. Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, voted overwhelmingly last month to extend the country's mandate there to December 2009 and raise its troop contingent to 4,500.

Germany is the third-largest contributor to the NATO-led force, and sent soldiers to the country right at the very start of the operation in 2002. Involvement in the conflict has attracted strong criticism, however, both at home and abroad.

The Bundeswehr deployment in Afghanistan has proved deeply unpopular in Germany, a country which is only slowing rediscovering its military role in the world again.

Last month, German Major General Hans-Lothar Domröse, NATO's third in command in Afghanistan, said the West was " perhaps a bit naïve" in its approach to the war. "The assumption that one could easily defeat the insurgents using conventional means was wrong," he told the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Germany's decision to base its army in the relatively peaceful northern part of the country while its NATO allies did much of the fighting in the dangerous south has also proved controversial.

sjr -- with wire reports

[Meursault]

the make that sound like a bad thing...killjoys.

[Mugzy]

Canadian troops are heavily restricted to any alcohol consumption in Afghanistan. I believe it is a no alcohol at all policy with some exemptions, like New Year's and such where they will be allowed two beers max!

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by Mugzy

Canadian troops are heavily restricted to any alcohol consumption in Afghanistan. I believe it is a no alcohol at all policy with some exemptions, like New Year's and such where they will be allowed two beers max!

I guess that makes sense, particularly in a country where most of the population frowns upon drinking. If you don't want to look like an occupation force, try respecting their customs (within reason, of course).

[Mugzy]

That, and we are in a more serious part of the country too.

[Meursault]

True, the german contingent doesn't see much intense fighting, they are mostly dealing with IEDs and the odd suicide attack.

[Mugzy]

Shit is still hitting the fan there daily though!

Afghan bombing kills 21, including US soldier

By RAHIM FAIEZ – 2 hours ago

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber targeting a passing U.S. military convoy blew up his car near a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, killing at least 21 people, including an American soldier, officials said.

The explosion also wounded 74 people near the livestock market where people were trading sheep cows, goats and other animals in the Bati Kot district outside Jalalabad, Afghan police and health officials said.

Charred and twisted remain of cars that were destroyed in the blast smoldered for hours after the attack on Afghanistan's main road to the nearby Pakistani. A U.S. military vehicle was among the wreckage.

Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, a U.S. military spokesman, said at least 20 civilians and a U.S. soldier were killed. The soldier's death brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan to at least 148, the highest number of troop deaths per year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

There were 111 U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan in the whole of 2007.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban militants regularly use suicide attackers and car bombs in their assaults against U.S., Afghan and other foreign troops in the country.

The United Nations condemned the attack, saying it "inflicted enormous suffering in an otherwise peaceful community."

"Insurgent and anti-government groups bear responsibility for ensuring civilians are kept out of harm's way, one for which flagrant disregard has been shown in these cases," Chris Alexander, the deputy head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Separately, two British troops were killed Wednesday in an explosion in southern Afghanistan's restive Helmand province, Britain's Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The Royal Marines' vehicle was struck by an explosive while they were on a patrol with Afghan security forces in the Garmsir district, the statement said.

The deaths bring the number of British personnel who have died in Afghanistan to 124.

More than 5,400 people, of whom nearly 1,000 civilians, have died in insurgency related violence this year, according to a tally compiled by the Associated Press based on figures provided by Afghan and international officials.

[Nemowork]

So are they drinking all this booze themselves or selling it on to other NATO groups?

[Meursault]

I doubt they sold much if any of it. For a contingent of about 4000 people, a million liters of beer per year means about 1.6 pints per day. Doesn't exactly sound as if they were binge drinking over there.

[Nemowork]

Ah, that makes a lot more sense...unless its a pint of vodka