led multinational force in Kosovo (KFOR) and United Nations police (UNMIK) during the rioting which left nearly 30 dead and hundreds injured, according to reports at the time. A Bundeswehr report to the defense ministry acknowledged shortcomings by German forces during the outbreak of ethnic violence in the U.N.-administered province on March 17 and 18. Struck said that German soldiers had regarded the situation in Kosovo as routine and consequently may have dropped their guard. The German forces in Kosovo came under fire for their role when ethnic Albanians targeted Serbs and other minorities in two days of rioting and burning of homes, churches and other property. Karl Lamers, a deputy of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, said during the parliamentary debate that in the wake of the Kosovo incidents Berlin must reappraise its military missions abroad. He stressed that the question was "not whether, but rather how" German missions in crisis regions are performed. In northern Afghanistan, German forces need to be beefed up and could not close their eyes to the drugs trade, Lamers said.
