GERMAN FOREIGN minister Frank Walter Steinmeier has said the country should work towards 2013 as the date to begin its exit of the Nato mission in Afghanistan.
Two weeks before the general election, the proposal from the man hoping to unseat chancellor Angela Merkel comes at a time of increased public discontent at Germany’s deployment of 4,200 soldiers in northern Afghanistan.
In a 10-point policy paper leaked to the German media, the foreign ministry calls for an Afghan conference scheduled for later this year not to satisfy itself with “vague targets” but to lay the foundations for a troop pull-out.
By 2011, German-controlled regions should be run by German-trained a local police force, the paper says, with training facilities converted into administrative buildings. “Our purpose is to make ourselves superfluous in Afghanistan,” said Mr Steinmeier in a televised debate on Sunday evening. “We want to create the conditions . . . by 2013 so that the withdrawal can begin.”
He said Germany should hold talks with the new Afghan president and “agree on a clear timetable on how long we need to be there”. Questioned further, he insisted he was not calling for a 2013 pull-out, but for the “creation of circumstances that would permit a withdrawal”.
Germany’s eight-year Afghanistan mission, governed by one-year parliamentary mandates, has cross-party support, with the exception of the Left Party.
Until now, the official line was to refuse to name a precise date for a pull-out. That unity has been shaken after a German-ordered air strike earlier this month killed countless civilians and dragged the Afghan mission into the general election campaign.
Members of Dr Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have attacked Mr Steinmeier for, as they see it, breaking the agreed line of not naming a pull-out date ahead of the September 27th election.
CDU defence minister Franz Josef Jung has said German troops will be needed in Afghanistan for another five to 10 years.
“Naming dates publicly sends a signal to the Taliban of just how much longer they need to hold on until the foreigners are gone and they achieve their first goal,” said Ruprecht Polenz, CDU foreign policy spokesman. “Now the foreign minister’s named 2013 only to take it back in part. I don’t really know what he wants.”
A government spokesman tried to paper over the cracks yesterday, saying the paper was in line with existing policy and Germany’s exit date would depend on bringing about security and stability.
“This is about putting more responsibility in the hands of Afghans,” said Ulrich Wilhelm, spokesman for Dr Merkel. “This will sink or swim with German progress in the training of Afghan police and army. In these areas, we have to make progress in the right direction.”
If the foreign ministry paper became policy, Germany would follow an example set by the Dutch and Canadian governments: Dutch troops are scheduled to depart by next July, while Canadians will depart in 2011.
Italy has said it will announce its departure date after the Afghan presidential election results.
