Q:  To what extent are German soldiers involved in combat action?

   Rumsfeld:  I'm going to have German and every other country characterize their roles themselves.  There are some sensitivities, and I would prefer to let coalition forces characterize what they're doing.

   Q:  Well, was it the first time they joined U.S. forces in combat?

   Rumsfeld:  He must not have heard me.  (Laughter.)

writes the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" on 26 Feb. 2002. The German government will not reveal how many and since when the elite forces are operating in Afghanistan. Either 200 or "officially" 100 soldiers are mentioned. Quite a large number, both, as the current strength of the KSK is just about 400 men. The spokes-person of the Defense Minister, Franzl Borkenhagen, said, the parliament has been informed in January. Members of the opposition parties deny that they have been informed. They also demand information about the operation of the NBC detection vehicles "Fuchs (Fox)" in Kuwait.

Unclear is the date of deployement of the KSK to the Afghanistan area of operation. German government states "since January of this year". However, in a letter to the German army union, a KSK soldier complained about not receiving his mail - for Christmas 2001...

As can be seen below, strong indications exist, that the deployment began in October or November 2001 for taking part in the exercise "Swift Sword II / Saif Sareea" in Oman alongside their British partners of the SAS and Royal Marine Commandos. The British comandos staged their missions in Afghanistan out of Oman.

We here see it coming that the operational details will be made public soon, to avoid another hot potato(e) coming up for the current German government before the elections. This might lead to the KSK no longer being asked by the Americans for doing its covert job which of course would play into the hands of those that like the German army to stay out of business as there is a strong urge for many people in Germany to not get involved in dangerous missions. 

According to Der SPIEGEL, 25 Feb. 2002, more than 200 German elite soldiers fight alongside their American and British colleagues against al-Qaida ists. German defense politicians revealed that the detachments of the "Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK)", i.e. Special Operations Commando, are planned to operate until late March in Afghanistan.

Defense expert Wieczorek (SPD) says about 200 soldiers of the KSK have participated in combat operations, "with great success". They mainly got to work in the South and East of Afghanistan.
        [ full article, in German]

Back end of September 2001, the German Defence Ministry denied a report that an advance group of elite troops had been dispatched on a mission to Afghanistan ... A spokesman said a report due to appear in Welt am Sonntag newspaper that members of the army's 400-strong "Kommando Spezialkraefte" (KSK) unit had flown to the region as ordinary passengers on civil aircraft was false. 
        [ Afghanradio]

German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping then said it was possible that the German parliament would only be informed in retrospect about certain military missions...

But in October 2001 [see Der SPIEGEL] , US Forces have specifically asked for the German elite warriors, because of their reputated skills in hostage rescue or capture of alleged ists and war criminals (e.g. in 1999 the Serb Janko Janjic) which the KSK has shown in Bosnia, Kosovo and Mazedonia. 

On November 25, 2002 it was reported in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that German special forces have been deployed to Oman, ready to take part in the US-led campaign in Afghanistan. [ source1] 

 German soldiers in Kabul, Afghanistan