German Foreign Minister Steinmeier said in an interview he wants to scrap the Afghanistan mandate for German commandos, thus ending Germany's contribution to the US-led force fighting terrorism in the region. In an interview with news magazine Der Spiegel, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the hundred elite German soldiers stationed in Afghanistan since 2001 have not been deployed "a single time."
Interesting.
| That's disappointing but not surprising. The Germans simply haven't been willing to carry their weight. |
The troops are part of the US-led "Operation Enduring Freedom" charged with fighting terrorism. The force is deeply controversial because of mounting civilian casualties in its fight against the Taliban.
Considering that increased enemy activity is causing the "mounting" civilian casualties, this "argument" is a ridiculous bit of sophistry.
The minister said he was in favour of removing the elite forces when the parliament debates in November whether to extend the mandate of Germany's participation in "Operation Enduring Freedom."
Instead, Steinmeier said, the "clear focus" for Berlin was to extend the number of German soldiers in Afghanistan under the NATO-led multinational International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). On Tuesday, the German parliament, in a special session, is to debate raising German troop levels by 1,000 to 4,500 soldiers. We can't "constantly raise our contribution without critically assessing existing commitments," Steinmeier told the magazine.
| Makes sense in a way: if you won't let the commandos fight then why have them there? If the job of the German solider is to be security guard and social worker, put the commandos somewhere else. How 'bout Somalia? Or Darfur? |
Steinmeier joins a growing chorus of German politician calling for a rethink of Germany's involvement in Afghanistan.
| WHAT involvement? Their ROEs are so restrictive they're barely useful other than as a symbol, IIUC. Or have those ROEs changed recently? And are they trained and equipped to contribute to real combat? Or is this another case of Germany wanting credit when things are going well and disavowing participation when there's real work to be done? |
On Saturday, The Christian Social (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Party, went further, urging the chancellor to come up with an exit strategy for the German army in Afghanistan.
Perhaps John McCain ought to bring this up at a debate?
The chairman of the CSU's parliamentary group, Peter Ramsauer said that was the only way the extension of Germany's Afghanistan mandate for another year could be justified and would get "some support" from citizens.
Ramsauer added he hoped experts weren't right in predicting that the mission in Afghanistan would last for 10 to 15 years. "It will become all the more shorter if we begin to understand that the problems in Afghanistan can never be solved militarily alone," he said. |