1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
German coalition collapseDonald TrumpCOP29

Merely a Formality?

DW staff (ncy)September 20, 2007

Just hours after the UN Security Council authorized NATO troops to remain in Afghanistan for another year, Germany's parliament began clearing the way for an extension of its soldiers' deployment there.

https://p.dw.com/p/Bhxw
A German soldier stands outside his jeep
The vote on extending the German Army's deployment to Afghanistan will come next monthImage: AP

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on lawmakers Thursday, Sept. 20, to vote in favor of prolonging the German army's mandate in the realm of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan as well as that of its six Tornado reconnaissance jets, which currently assist the mission.

Afghans stand on a bridge
Pulling out troops now would reverse progress already made, Steinmeier saidImage: picture-alliance/dpa

"Anyone who demands withdrawal of the troops from Afghanistan puts at risk everything that we have built up in the last six years," the Social Democrat (SPD) said, though he conceded that "the way has been harder than many of us had hoped."

The SPD, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Union and the free-market liberal FDP expressed their support for extending the mission in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament. Their combined votes are enough for the extension to be approved when lawmakers decide the issue in three weeks.

The Left party's parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi reiterated his party's rejection of the mission, referring to polls that showed that a majority of Germans wanted their soldiers to leave Afghanistan.

Greens chief appeals to Afghan foreign minister

Germany's Green party has been in disarray over the deployment, with many members opposed to the government's plans for the two, currently separate missions to be combined into one mandate. Green parliamentary group chief Fritz Kühn stressed that his party backed ISAF, although most Green party parliamentarians are expected to abstain or oppose the extension because they disagree with the Tornado deployment.

Spanta and Steinmeier, smiling
Spanta (l.) and SteinmeierImage: AP

In a letter to be published in the tageszeitung daily on Friday, Green party head Claudia Roth called on Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta to remain a member of the political organization despite members' disagreement over Germany's mission in his country.

Spanta had previously told the paper he had written a letter of resignation from the party but was not yet entirely sure about sending it. The minister lived in Germany for some 20 years as a refugee and joined the Greens in the city of Aachen in 1994.

Around 3,000 German soldiers have been deployed to Afghanistan.

Skip next section Explore more

Explore more

What Is the ISAF Mission Trying to Achieve?

The peacekeeping mission in Afgahnistan was supposed to rest on two pillars, military support and assistance with development and reconstruction. Critics say that without more economic and humanitarian support, poverty stricken residents of rural areas of Afghanistan will turn to the Taliban. We sent our team to pay a visit to one of the more successful examples of development assistance: the Budenswehr's hospital in Faisabad.
September 20, 2007

Parliament Debates Germany's Mission in Afghanistan

The German government is hoping to secure as much support as possible when parliament votes on the issue. Afghan parliamentarians are following the debate with interest. Like the German foreign minister, they believe much is at stake. +++SOT Frank-Walter Steinmeier +++ "Those who are demanding the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, are risking everything we've built up there over the past six years." The minister says making the ISAF mission and the controversial deployment of Tornado surveillance aircraft part of the same mandate makes for greater flexibility. The Left Party disagrees. They are opposed to any German involvement. +++SOT Gregor Gysi: "You don't even notice anymore that for you military and foreign policy has become one and the same thing which is exactly what we want to avoid." +++ But the left party are alone in their total rejection of the German mission. Social democrats formerly opposed to the tornado deployment now say they are in favour.
September 20, 2007
Reinhard Bütikofer speaking at the party congress

Germany's Green Party Split Over Afghanistan Mandate

Germany's Green Party Split Over Afghanistan Mandate

Members of Germany's opposition Green party instructed their leaders at a party congress over the weekend to withdraw their support for the German military engagement in Afghanistan. (17.09.2007)
September 17, 2007
Show more stories