Weapons, fighters, military data: In hardly any other country did the German foreign intelligence service have such extensive opportunities for reconnaissance as in Afghanistan. And yet he overlooked the essential. How could he be so wrong?
By Florian Flade, Georg Mascolo and
Ronen Steinke, Berlin
What weapons and how many fighters the radical Islamic Taliban have at their disposal in Afghanistan: The Federal Intelligence Service, the BND, was mostly well informed about this. As far as these tough military facts are concerned, the German foreign intelligence service had a reputation for keeping precise records. It is a meticulous picture that the service drew for it. Also most recently in a confidential management report that was presented to the federal government’s crisis team on Friday.