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Germany Mulls Afghan Exit Strategy
[Quqnoos] An influential German candidate said his country should move toward an 'eventual withdrawal' from AfghanistanGerman Chancellor Angela Markel and her main rival Walter Steinmeier in the next week election discussed Afghanistan issues in a televised debate on Sunday. "Germany should move toward an eventual withdrawal of its 4,000 troops from Afghanistan," said Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier. "We want to create the conditions ... by 2013 so that the withdrawal can begin," Steinmeier, the head of the German Social Democrats, said in Sunday's debate. Merkel said that pressure needed to by exerted on Kabul to ensure progress but would not engage on a specific withdrawal plan. "Getting out now would mean women going back into the cellar, girls no longer going to school, farmers growing drugs again and plenty more," Steinmeier said. Germany as a key US ally in Afghanistan has nearly 4,000 troops in the country, mostly stationed in the relatively peaceful northern Afghanistan. In a visit with her French and British counterparts last week, the German chancellor said training of Afghan forces should be accelerated in order to transfer full control of security to Afghans.
Posted by: Fred 2009-09-15 |
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