"I wasn't sure if the pictures were real, they were so unrealistic, so surreal," Urbach recalls of the images of the burning twin towers. But those unreal images were to have very real and very personal consequences for the father of three from the Rhineland.

On September 12, NATO took the unprecedented step of invoking Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, thereby calling on members to be ready to provide any assistance that might be required as a result of the attacks.

Three months later, the German parliament decided to deploy troops to the Hindu Kush to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom, the international mission in Afghanistan.

Urbach clearly recalls the moment he realized that he would soon be called upon to serve in Afghanistan. Around the same time as the Bundestag decision, he was on a NATO training maneuver in Turkey when he saw B52 bombers tearing through the sky towards the Hindu Kush.

"It was no longer abstract, but something palpable," he said.

Away from home

For Fritz Urbach it meant repeated deployments to the troubled region and long absences from his family.

"The children were much smaller then and my wife knew from the very beginning that sooner or later I would have to go abroad," Urbach said. But coming from a military family herself, his wife was always very supportive of what he had to do. "She understands the price of being a soldier."

In 2010, Urbach witnessed exactly how high that price can be. During his time as leader of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Feisabad in northern Afghanistan, three of his soldiers were killed. Urbach was the one who sent them on their mission.

"I was responsible for the men," Urbach said, adding that it is very tough when someone from the family of soldiers is killed.

Increasing danger

Since the start of Germany's involvement in the Afghanistan mission, the Bundeswehr officer has been there a dozen times. With each deployment, he has followed the growing levels of danger.

"Our first mission in 2002 started against a relatively quiet, stable security backdrop, but we have gradually come to realize that is no longer the case," he said. "The threats have become more real."

The deteriorating security situation has been building up for a while, and Urbach has experienced several episodes that reminded him of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the original reason for the Afghanistan mission.

Flames of hatred

One such incident followed the public burning of a Koran in the US in September 2010. It sparked a violent demonstration in front of the German base in Feisabad in which the Bundeswehr became the target for stone throwers. Afghani police, who had been called in for back up, fired warning shots.

Urbach engaged in mediation talks with the organizers of the protest, and recalls meeting a number of men who reminded him of the September 11 perpetrators.

"In my assessment, they were all young fanatical fundamentalists," he said. "From the way they behaved and their lines of argument, they seemed to be the types who could fly planes into something; they were the same age group and were obstinately unwilling to listen."

Realistic view

Urbach's extensive work in Afghanistan has taught him to lower his sights. He says the original aim of the international mission was to take the country by the hand and turn it into a democratic nation which upholds human rights and encourages gender equality. But he no longer sees that as a viable short-term possibility.

In the medium-term, however, he believes that the Afghanis will be able to take care of their own security issues well enough to ensure that their country never again becomes a safe house for terrorists such as those responsible for the World Trade Center attacks.

"When we've achieved that, we'll gradually be able to leave Afghanistan alone again."

Author: Daniel Scheshkewitz / tkw
Editor: Sabina Casagrande