WEBVTT

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All right , let's just begin with your

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name and title ? Brigadier General

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Carsten Jacobsen , german army , I am

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the chief spokesman . Um let's just

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start off with the four French soldiers

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in the eastern Afghanistan . What

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happened ?

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Well , it has been a very sad day for

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ice f overall . We have lost in the

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last 24 hours , six coalition soldiers

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in a helicopter incident . And we have

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lost this morning for French soldiers

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in a shooting situation in the eastern

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part of Afghanistan where a man

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dressed up in afghan uniform opened

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fire on french soldiers And four of

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them unfortunately perished . So , our

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thoughts today are with the families of

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all those soldiers who we have lost in

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the last 24 hours um Francis

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now suspending its military operations

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in Afghanistan . What kind of impact is

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that going to have on the mission in

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Afghanistan ?

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Well , we are aware of the statement

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that the french president made this

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afternoon and we obviously have to look

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at what that means in the moment . It's

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too early to make a statement on behalf

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of Ice F . And we first have to talk to

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the french authorities . Was it

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an Afghan soldier who opened fire on

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those french troops . What do you know

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about the person who perpetrated this ?

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Okay , well , the name is clear of

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the men who actually committed the act .

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He is in custody . We have to still

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clear whether he was a regular member

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of the armed forces . Uh this

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is like other cases uh of the same of

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the same kind an event that we have to

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look at very detailed look at the

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background , look at the individual

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that was involved in this case . To

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have the real truth . All of these

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cases have to be looked at case by case .

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What are the concerns about the members

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of the Afghan security forces you had

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mentioned ? This is not the first

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incident potentially of this type that

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has occurred . What kind of partners

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are the Afghan security forces for the

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Foreign forces in Afghanistan ?

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Well , obviously , an incident like

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this always brings the question of , of

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trust with it . But as we look at the

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theater , we see that 130,000 soldiers

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off the coalition on a daily basis

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operate With 300,000 members policemen

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and soldiers of the Afghan National

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Security Forces very close and combat

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situations and situations where they

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have to trust and rely on each other .

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This happens on a daily basis . So

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therefore every step that has to be

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taken to continue and improve this

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confidence and this trust has to be

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taken . And one of the most important

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things obviously is the vetting of

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young recruits who are joining the

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Afghan National Security Forces . To

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what degree our Foreign forces

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concerned about their safety and

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working with Afghan forces . How big a

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concern is this situation ,

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as it is looking very carefully into

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every single incident and as we have

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seen it in recent months , there are

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different backgrounds and different

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situations . We just had a report on an

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incident that happened at Kabul airport

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last year . Only , only a few days ago ,

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we are looking very carefully at every

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single case to find out what was the

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background of this , What drove the

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situation , What escalated it to this

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point . We haven't seen a pattern in

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this . And as I said , numerous

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soldiers , actually , the majority of

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the coalition is working closely

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together with Afghan National Security

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forces on a daily basis . This means

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that there has to be a lot of trust ,

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that there has to be a lot of

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confidence in each other . This is

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something that makes it necessary that

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every single case is investigated

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thoroughly . But it will not change our

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course . You had also mentioned the

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helicopter incident involving american

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soldiers . What can you tell us about

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what happened ?

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Well , we have lost a helicopter in

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Helmand uh in a tragic incident . Again ,

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we are looking into the background of

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this incident . The thing that more or

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less becomes clear to us at the moment

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is that this is not a Taliban cost an

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incident that brought the aircraft down .

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We are looking for a mechanical fault ,

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but it has to be investigated . The

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helicopter has to be investigated at

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the moment . As in these situations ,

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our thoughts are with the members of

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the families of those six soldiers who

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perished last night . Just as a

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final question , how would you describe

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the overall security situation uh in

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Afghanistan right now and what are you

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going to be focusing on in the coming

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days and weeks ?

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Well , the security situation in

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Afghanistan is as it always is in

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winter season , more stable than it

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has been in the summer . And if we look

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back at 2010 and at the years before ,

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We have seen a clear change of trend in

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2011 and violence is actually going

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down . What are we focusing on ? Well ,

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we have started the process of

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transition in the year 2011 and that

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has taken pace and we're going to

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continue this pace with high speed

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and hand over responsibility to Afghan

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National Security Forces and Afghan

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government . But at the same time the

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campaign against the insurgency has

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continued . So is his role as the force

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that is fighting the insurgency as the

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force that is enabling the Afghan

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government to take over responsibility

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over its own country as quickly as

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possible by training the Afghan

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National Security forces that will

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continue and that will continue Over

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the whole of the year 2012 . Whilst we

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are starting to bring troop numbers

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down . All right . Um that'll be it for

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today . Once again , thank you so much

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for helping us out And I hope to speak

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with you again next week . And

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the same to you . Deborah , have a good

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week , have a good weekend and I'll

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talk to you next week . Goodbye bye bye