Taleban insurgents fighting German forces in northern Afghanistan have often lived to fight another day thanks to trilingual warnings that have to be shouted out before the men from the Bundeswehr can squeeze their triggers.

The seven-page pocket guide to combat tucked into the breast pocket of every German soldier offers such instructions as: “Before opening fire you are expected to declare loudly, in English, ‘United Nations — stop, or I will fire,” followed by a version in Pashtu — Melgaero Mellatuna- Dreesch, ka ne se dasee kawum!”

The alert must also be issued in Dari, and the booklet, devised by a committee in some faraway ministerial office, adds: “If the situation allows, the warning should be repeated.” The joke going round Nato mess tents poses the question: “How can you identify a German soldier? He is the corpse clutching a pocket guide.”

So nothing better reflects that the Germans are now in a real war for the first time since 1945 than the release of new rules of engagement this week, giving their forces more freedom to shoot back and shout warnings later.

The German language used to be famed for its crisp commands — “Achtung!”, “Zum Befehl!” — rather than its legalistic circumlocutions. “The warnings”, said General Wolfgang Schneiderhahn, the leading German commander, “were well intended but not realistic.”

The German Army, mocked and criticised by its Nato partners because of the many caveats limiting its operations, has been taking serious casualties in the north of the country, especially around the Kunduz region.

German politicians, aware of an approaching general election that could give voice to pacificist sentiment, are still avoiding the K-word — Krieg (war) — and no modern German government can expect to be re-elected on a war platform. The reality looks a lot like war, and the new rules of engagement adapt to it. The seven-page booklet has been trimmed down to four pages and soldiers are not as hamstrung by regulations.

Up until last week it was, for example, forbidden to shoot a fleeing assailant, even though every civilian policeman in Germany has the right to shoot an armed fugitive in the arm or leg after barking a short warning.

The new guidelines say that soldiers can shoot to prevent an attack, allowing them to kill a rebel escaping from the battlefield. Much of the phrasing is nuanced but gives more room for soldiers to defend themselves. One section authorised defensive measures only if soldiers were under imminent threat; now they can open fire if “an assault is in preparation”. Changing a few words gives the Germans a few hundred more metres to react.

Much of the booklet provides assistance to soldiers in communicating with villagers after an attack has taken place. Illustrations show roadside bombs, Taleban weaponry and different acts, from kidnapping to suicide bombing. The villagers are expected to point to the pictures to tell the soldiers what has happened.

The key phrase taught to German Panzergrenadiers before they were sent to Afghanistan from their home training centre, the Field Marshal Rommel barracks in Augustdorf, was the Dari “Ki-raa dideen?” or “What did you see?” It is communication at the most primitive level.

The old rules have sometimes been ignored and German prosecutors have been watching military operations with increasing alarm. When a vehicle recently raced towards a German checkpoint, a soldier shot the civilian driver and two passengers dead. He is now under investigation by the state prosecutor in Potsdam; testimony is being collected and there is a possibility that he will have to stand trial.

“For soldiers that means a psychological and professional uncertainty piled on top of the military risks,” said Professor Michael Wolfssohn.

• Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan, announced a campaign to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign funds sent to the Taleban each year. He blamed sympathisers in the Gulf and Western Europe for the funds.

Times Recommends

• Times Charity Appeal: SolarAid
• Is it Black Monday all over again for Dubai?
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal