A plane carrying U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is saluted by U.S. soldiers upon her arrival at Kabul airport November 18, 2009. Clinton arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday for her first visit as America's top diplomat, on the eve of President Hamid Karzai's inauguration after a fraud-tainted election. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen (AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)
26 Nov 2009 09:30:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
BERLIN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Germany's armed forces chief Wolfgang Schneiderhan has resigned, Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said, after accusations the military withheld information about an air strike in Afghanistan.
The Sept. 4 strike was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two, killing 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians, according to the Afghan government.
In the days after the strike, Franz Josef Jung, who was defence minister at the time and now serves as labour minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's new centre-right government, denied there were any civilian victims.
Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Thursday, ahead of a parliamentary debate on extending Germany's 4,500-strong mission in Afghanistan, that videos and a secret military report had clearly pointed to civilian casualties at the time the government and military was denying them.
Speaking in parliament, Guttenberg said on Thursday that Schneiderhan, who as inspector general holds the highest-ranking military post in the armed forces, had submitted his resignation. The minister thanked him for his service. (Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Andrew Roche) ((noah.barkin@reuters.com; +49 30 2888 5091; Reuters Messaging: rm://noah.barkin.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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