Word: air
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Three months after a German-ordered air strike in Kunduz, Northern Afghanistan, Germany's Defense Ministry is poised to pay compensation to the relatives of Afghan civilians killed in the attack. On Wednesday, a lawyer representing victims' families held talks with Defense Ministry officials in Berlin aimed at hammering out a compensation deal. "This isn't just about dishing out a few dollars," Karim Popal, a Bremen-based lawyer representing 80 relatives of victims, tells TIME. "We want to set up a special fund and provide long-term help for the women and children who lost their families' breadwinners...
...still not clear how many Afghans died. Popal says he has met a 30-year-old Afghan woman who lost her husband and father in the raid and now has to look after her six daughters by herself. "My clients are furious that German forces ordered the Kunduz air strike. They feel very disappointed," says Popal. "They see German troops as murderers, just as American soldiers are viewed." (See pictures of the battle in Afghanistan's Kunar province...
...German government has paid compensation to relatives of civilians killed in Afghanistan. In 2008, the German army handed $20,000 to the family of an Afghan woman and two children who were shot dead by a German soldier at a checkpoint. But given the scale of September's air strike in Kunduz - widely considered the most deadly air raid involving German forces in Germany's post-war history - the payout to victims' relatives is bound to be much bigger. The Defense Ministry spokesman dismisses German media reports of a $4.5 million payout as "pure speculation." (See the top 10 news...
...cost of the tragic blunder to Merkel's government could take longer to assess. A parliamentary commission is set to investigate the air strike next week, and Germany's current Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, one of the country's most popular politicians, has already been forced into an embarrassing repudiation of his statement last month that the air strike had been "militarily appropriate." (Read "Much Work Ahead for German Chancellor Merkel...
...after the U.S. and Britain. But the U.S. is looking for a bigger commitment. "More German troops would be very welcome," Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's special envoy for Afghanistan, told the German paper Berliner Zeitung on Dec. 9. (Read "Germany's Doubts About Afghanistan Grow After Revelations About Air Strike...