Germany Is Poised to Sell Submarines to Pakistan

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition will probably go ahead with the sale of three submarines to Pakistan, ignoring opposition concerns about the delivery of military hardware to the nuclear-armed state, two German government officials said. The Federal Security Council, a body made up of ministers that vets all military hardware sales, is prepared to back the sale of the Class 214 submarines made by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG, the officials said on condition of anonymity because the decision is not yet final. A Pakistani delegation including army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is in Berlin today for meetings with German officials. Opposition lawmakers are wary of sales to Pakistan as it struggles with Islamist radicals along the border with neighboring Afghanistan. “We have to ask ourselves whether such an unstable country really needs such submarine technology,” said Alexander Bonde, a Green Party lawmaker leading opposition to the sale in the lower house of parliament in Berlin. Bonde said a final decision will probably be made after German national elections Sept. 27. .

Taliban Offensive

Pakistan has struggled in a seven-week campaign to push back radicals after Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the capital, Islamabad. The army is preparing to mount an offensive in South Waziristan to drive out militants from its northwest tribal areas. A Pakistani delegation visited Berlin several weeks ago to express interest in the submarines, said Muhammad Azam, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Berlin. No official orders have yet been tendered, he said. A preliminary inquiry from Pakistan has been “positively assessed” by the German government, though no official request yet been processed, Economy Ministry spokesman Steffen Moritz said in a phone interview. Andrea Wessel, a spokeswoman for ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, a unit of Dusseldorf-based ThyssenKrupp AG, said the company wouldn’t comment on “ongoing projects.” “Pakistan’s interest in these submarines shows it still sees India as the traditional enemy, even though bilateral tensions have eased somewhat since 2004,” Christian Wagner, an analyst at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said in an interview. “The money would be better spent on equipping and training its land forces to combat terrorist insurgents.” The 65-meter (213-foot) submarines, non-nuclear vessels equipped with eight torpedo tubes, rely on a fuel-cell system to remain silent beneath the water for longer periods than previous models. ThyssenKrupp describes the vessels as having “extraordinarily developed stealth characteristics and an impressive weapon and sensor payload.”

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