content . I'm just technique . If you
can hear me . Yeah , Deborah Hi , uh I
can hear you , we've got a little bit
of a technical problem , but I think we
can manage , all right , we're familiar
with that in the television business .
Trust me , um if we could just I'm not
kidding . Um just starting off with you
with your name and title Brigadier
General Carsten Jacobsen , German Army ,
I am the chief spokesman . Um starting
off , how would you describe the
security situation in Afghanistan right
now ? Well , we're
looking back at 2011 in the moment and
we are having a look at what we have
learned from the year 2011 in hindsight ,
what we have seen as a year in which a
number of considerable changes have
happened . We have seen the security
situation stabilizing in particular in
the areas where main offensives have
taken place , that is the south and the
southwest . We have seen the number of
casualties dropping , although we had a
higher number of troops in theatre than
ever before . We have seen Afghan
national security forces and the Afghan
government beginning to take over
security and general responsibility in
parts of the country in the process of
transition . And we have seen the
beginning of the drawdown of
international forces . So looking at
back at it 2011 can be described a year
where the situation has changed and
moves in a new direction , which is a
process that we want to continue
throughout 2012 . There have been quite
a few reports on efforts , especially
in terms of the United States trying to
work with the Taliban on some kind of
peace initiatives . What impact do just
do those negotiations or even the
prospect of those negotiations have on
the military campaign ?
Well , is f is aware of the fact that
victory over the insurgency will not be
won on the battlefield alone . At the
end of the day , we do need
reconciliation at the end , we need a
political outcome to end the insurgency .
So itself will support anything that
has to be done to come to a political
conclusion . As well as continuing the
military campaign . Of course we will
continue operations and we will shift
operations to the areas where the
insurgency is still strongest . This is
our job , this is our role and our part
and reconciliation is to persuade the
insurgency by continuous strong
operations all over the theater that
the only way to end this is basically
to stop fighting to not be killed or
captured anymore , but to join the
reintegration process . This is the
military part of it . And apart from
that , we are obviously aware of the
political process that is going on . I
would just imagine that would be , it
would be very difficult to be uh you
know , in in a military leadership
position where you're having to make
decisions about where to deploy forces
when when you're fighting with the same
people you're trying to talk to uh how
do you work with that balance ?
The military has got a very clear task
and the military task is counter
insurgency . So for us , nothing much
has changed . We start the year 2012 in
a counterinsurgency operation and we
will continue to pursue the insurgents
wherever this has to be done and
wherever we have to fight in operations ,
we are offering the options of
reintegration and we are offering the
option to stabilize the situation
across the board . We have made great
achievements in 2011 in particular , in
the south and in the southwest . We are
still involved in considerable fighting
in the east . So whilst political
negotiation have started and
obviously taking a grip the military
campaign will continue . This has been
like this as long as military conflict
goes um awesome . I'm just
curious about the role of the Taliban
in Afghanistan right now . Is that the
primary insurgent force in Afghanistan ?
Is the Taliban , the type of
organization or group where if the
leadership is , is deciding one thing ,
people will , will follow the
leadership or is that is it more
splinter than that
in a counterinsurgency , it is always
very difficult to identify a clear
enemy , a clear portion of the enemy .
If it would be that easy , the military
solution would be easy and that enemy
could be defeated on the battlefield .
The Taliban , the roof of a number of
organizations , a number of groups that
joined the militants for different
purposes . There is islamists , there
is old groups that go back to the days
of the mujahideen , there are those out
in parts of the country that are just
unhappy with governance , unhappy with
progress , that want to have different
different regulations for their part of
the country in which they are living .
There is also organized criminality ,
there are people who are profiting from
the insurgency . So there is a wide
area that all together contribute to
violence in the country and to
instability . The biggest and most
important obviously is the organized ,
the organized insurgency is the Taliban
leadership is the leadership that is
sitting with its leading heads outside
of Afghanistan , mainly in Pakistan and
they will be the ones who have to call
the halt to the shots . If that happens ,
there will still be violence and parts ,
but it will become very easily
controllable . So therefore we are at a
corner where political negotiations ,
where actions on the side of the
Taliban might lead to an end of the
overall violence . But this is a
process , this is a process that we
have to go through the role that I set
has to play in . This is a very clear
military campaign continuous against
the insurgency relentless in the
pursuit of the insurgents and very
clearly targeted on bringing security
and stability to more and more regions
of Afghanistan . Okay , just as a final
question , what's going on in terms of
Pakistan with the supply routes into
Afghanistan now .
Well , the supply routes through
Pakistan are still closed . We still
see no logistical transport reaching
Afghanistan . That is uh that
is and hours . That is logistical
transport that goes to NATO and to the
U . S . Forces . We've also seen
hindrance on some of the logistical
transport that goes to Afghan firms and
the Afghans . And this is a matter of
concern as it is of equal logic .
Uh concern for the Pakistani
for Pakistani firms as well as for
Afghan firms . The closure of the
logistic routes is is a concern in the
relations between Afghanistan ,
Pakistan and the international
community . It is not a logistical
challenge for us , but it is a
political challenge and normalization
really depends on this ending as soon
as possible . On the military side , we
have seen over the last days that we
have started moving the first goods
back from the control points , the
border control points where they have
been stored over many days now back
down to the ports . So we have to watch
the situation carefully . It is in the
interest of that , the supply routes
open again , logistics logistically ,
it's not necessary . We can get our
supplies and other ways , but in the
interest of stabilisation of the
political situation of the overall
situation between Pakistan Afghanistan
and the international community , there
is an interest that they reopened . All
right , once again , thank you so much .
Very much appreciate you taking the
time to talk to us and hope to speak to
you again next week . Thank you ,
Deborah . I hope so , too . Bye bye .
Bye bye .