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Heiko Maas (SPD): The Foreign Minister had admitted errors in assessing the situation
Photo: ANNEGRET HILSE / POOL / EPA
After the rapid triumph of the Taliban, the German government has come under fire for its Afghanistan policy.
The role of the Foreign Ministry is also in focus.
In connection with the Afghanistan debacle, the CDU secret service expert Patrick Sensburg has now called for the resignation of Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD).
"That is unbearable behavior," said Sensburg to the "Handelsblatt".
The member of the Bundestag referred to the fact that Maas had previously criticized the work of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) on Afghanistan.
Previously, ministers would have stood in front of their officials and submitted their resignation, said Sensburg.
The CDU politician continued to criticize Maas trying to make others liable for his mistakes and omissions.
Sensburg said that the BND had been providing "detailed and comprehensive" information on data and facts in Afghanistan for years.
»The Foreign Office assesses and evaluates the foreign policy situation.
Otherwise we wouldn't need it, ”he said, however.
The chairman of the secret service body in the Bundestag, Roderich Kiesewetter, sees responsibility for assessing the external situation at Maas' ministry.
The Foreign Office relies on various sources, "primarily on the assessment of its employees on site, but also on the knowledge of other actors on site, such as the Bundeswehr, NGOs and other organizations as well as intelligence services".
Criticism also from the Greens
Sharp criticism also came from Green politician Cem Özdemir.
"Maas is a burden for the election campaign of the SPD top candidate Olaf Scholz and he is trying to push all the blame off towards the Chancellery," he told the Handelsblatt.
That is an "unworthy spectacle".
But he did not demand a resignation.
Özdemir pointed out that there are only five weeks left before the general election.
"Resigning wouldn't do anything now," he said.
In addition, others have already "not resigned in this federal government in the event of acute failure," noted the Green politician.
Instead, he called for a non-partisan reappraisal after the federal election together with scientists.
more on the subject
Foreign Minister Maas on the failure in Afghanistan: "I don't know whether this can even be cured" A SPIEGEL interview by Melanie Amann and Christoph Schult
In the SPIEGEL interview, Maas said that the BND had made a "wrong assessment of the situation, just like other services."
This means that the secret service bears considerable responsibility for the foreign policy debacle surrounding the Afghanistan mission.
"The decisions that were made on the basis of these erroneous reports were made to the best of our knowledge and belief," said Maas.
But they were "wrong in the result", with catastrophic consequences.
This cannot remain without consequences for the way the German intelligence services work, says the SPD politician.
In addition, findings from other services should be checked intensively in the future before they are taken over.
asc / AFP
