German troops in Afghanistan. ISAF photo.
by ANDREW BALCOMBE
Responding to calls by its NATO partners to do more in Afghanistan, Germany has pledged to send 500 more troops. Germany also pledged 50 million euros to be spent on reintegrating Taliban fighters. On top of the 500 troops, an extra 350 have been promised as a “flexible reserve” if and when needed, according to Spiegel Online.
The plan forged by German Chancellor Angela Merkel must be approved by parliament, as the current parliamentary mandate allows for only 4,500 troops; the reinforcements would exceed that ceiling.
The pledge was made just two days before a critical conference on the future of Afghanistan taking place in London. The reinforcements come after the U.S. decided to send an extra 2,500 troops to the north of Afghanistan. In Germany, the American move was seen as a vote of “no confidence” in the German mission. German troops have been heavily criticized for staying in their bases while the Taliban gained influence all around them. They have also been accused of not accompanying the Afghan troops they train on missions — and of only moving around in large, heavily-armed convoys.
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…and so we stumble on. Its an open secret in relevant German circles that we should rather send at least 2000 more troops, if we want to keep going. Thats what the military command estimates is needed. Of course on the other hand the party that sent troops there in the first place, now (that they lost the election) says: no more troops are needed, instead we should increase our (cough…already great…cough) police training work.
This new pledge is just the pathetic attempt to look somewhat better than all the other participants (minus UK), who do not want to contribute any more troops. The thing is, it might actually work…