Bundeswehr international missions

On April 2, 1993, the German government approved the Bundeswehr's first international combat mission since World War Two. German troops were allowed to participate in a NATO mission in the former Yugoslavia.

German soldiers monitored an arms embargo in the Adriatic Sea and a no-fly zone over Bosnia - a controversial deployment of Bundeswehr troops outside of NATO territory. The opposition Social Democrat and liberal Free Democrat parliamentary groups labelled the deployment unconstitutional, arguing that German Basic Law forbids military missions above and beyond protecting Germany and the alliance.

On July 12, 1994 the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that Bundeswehr deployments outside of NATO territory within a UN or NATO framework were compatible with the Basic Law. The court made it clear, however, that such operations require the consent of the German parliament.

In the framework of NATO's Allied Force operation in Kosovo in the spring of 1999, the Bundeswehr faced the first major armed combat situation in its history. German Tornado combat aircraft flew aerial reconnaissance flights and targeted Serb anti-aircraft positions. The campaign was highly criticized: It was not a case of self-defense, nor was there an explicit UN Security Council mandate.

In Kosovo, the center-left German government used the force of arms as a means of politics abroad for the first time - a move that resulted in a great deal of tension at home. Opponents branded it an unconstitutional war of aggression, and the Green party in particular was bitterly divided. At a special party convention, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was hit by a paint bomb.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, NATO invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty for the first time in its history. The German government pledged its support in the "fight against terror." Within the framework of Operation Enduring Freedom, Bundeswehr soldiers now fought in Afghanistan and contributed to maritime security around the Horn of Africa.

The issue of Bundeswehr participation in the war on terror was a subject of fierce debate within the center-left government coalition under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. In 2001 the Chancellor, who pledged Germany's "unreserved solidarity" with the US, narrowly won a parliamentary vote of confidence linked to the deployment of German troops in Afghanistan.

The Bundeswehr joined the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan in 2002. Currently, 4,628 German soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan. 52 have lost their lives there over the past 11 years. All foreign soldiers are scheduled to leave the country by the end of 2014.

On September 4, 2009, more than 100 people, including children, were killed when German commander Georg Klein ordered a bomb attack on two tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban south of Kunduz. It was by far the largest number of casualties in a Bundeswehr operation.

In December 2012, German Patriot missile systems were installed in south-eastern Turkey, near the border with Syria. Ankara had asked its NATO allies for protection from possible Syrian attacks. 298 Bundeswehr soldiers are deployed in the Anatolian town of Kahramanmaras, about 100 kilometers north of the Syrian border.

Since 1992, 100 German soldiers have died on international missions. A central memorial in commemoration of Bundeswehr soldiers - including those who lost their lives during foreign missions - was unveiled in Berlin in September 2009.