German Cabinet OK’s Plan To Keep Small Group of Soldiers in Afghanistan

Starting Jan. 1, the soldiers remaining would be part of NATO's "Resolute Support" mission to train and advise Afghan military forces.

Germany's mandate had initially foreseen 600-800 German troops for the mission. Defense experts from the ruling coalition parties recommended a higher upper limit, however. Rainer Arnold, defense spokesman for the Social Democrats, told the Berliner Zeitung that this would give more flexibility to deploy additional soldiers and weapons systems to protect the German trainers in dangerous situations.

Although combat in self-defense is not ruled out, the new mission should have a "different character from the previous [International Security Assistance Force] mission," the draft deployment authorization states. "It is not a combat mission and is not aimed at direct participation in the war on terrorism or drugs."

The mandate is limited to one year, though it is likely to be extended an additional year. The draft is slated to come before the German Parliament for approval at the beginning of December. One prominent member of the opposition Green Party, Tom Koenigs, has already said he will vote against the mandate. Koenigs, who served as Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007, told German daily Die Welt that the new mission "doesn't make sense."

"We tried via the military to make Afghanistan a more stable place for 13 years and it didn't work," Koenigs said. "What should we achieve there over the next two years with a fraction of the troops? We should leave at the end of the year — completely."

During the peak of the ISAF mission, Germany had more than 5,000 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. That number has dwindled to 1,500.

Some 12,000 troops are expected take part in the new NATO mission, including soldiers from 14 non-NATO countries. The German Army would continue to take a leadership role in northern Afghanistan from its base camp in Masar-i-Sharif. ■

Email: dcorbett@defensenews.com.

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