[Platapus]

Let's look at what the article says:

"The Taliban commander is regarded as a brutal extremist with excellent connections to terror cells across the border in Pakistan. "

"Security officials consider him to be one of the most dangerous players in the region, which is under German command as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan."

"The military accuses him of laying roadside bombs and of sheltering suicide attackers prior to their bloody missions."

"He is also thought to be behind one of the deadliest attacks..."

Seems like an awful lot of "is regarded", "considers", "accuses", and "thought to be" but little evidence or proof of guilt here.

"Germany's KSK special forces have been charged with capturing the terrorist, in cooperation with the Afghan secret service organization NDS and the Afghan army. "

If they have been charged with capturing him then killing him is not the mission. Perhaps the Germans are more interested in completing the mission than just scoring a kill? Perhaps capturing him, even if it takes longer, will result in more intelligence then just whacking him.

Maybe the Germans are interested in interrogating him to find out if he is guilty instead of just settling for "is regarded", "considers", "accuses", and "is thought to be?

I know that in America just being " regarded", "considered", "accused", and "thought to be" is enough to be killed on sight. But Germany may be different.

Not every objective in war is obtained by killing someone. The disciplined collection of intelligence, while not satisfying the blood lust, is often more important to the mission.