“Education” about Afghanistan is required.
The Greens and FDP, however, doubt the government's will.
Annalena Baerbock in particular is sounding the alarm.
The Union counters coolly.
Berlin - A failure of the federal government cannot be denied: The evacuation flights from Afghanistan will end without all of the people to be fled from Germany escaping the Taliban's reach.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) admitted this - and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also criticized herself in her government statement.
But will the circumstances of the debacle actually be cleared up?
The opposition has doubts.
The Greens, among others, are sounding the alarm - they point to two remarkable decisions by the grand coalition.
But the FDP is also dissatisfied.
Afghanistan debacle: Greens raise serious allegations - and fail with demands for clarification
Probably the most serious reproach of the Greens: Merkel's federal government had put the lives of many local workers at risk - because they had put “domestic political considerations” first.
The accusation in plain language: The cabinet feared a migration debate in the election campaign before the federal elections and therefore refrained from rescuing German helpers in Afghanistan for far too long.
Minutes and files could possibly provide information about the debates and decision-making processes - in some cases this has already happened.
Shortly after the omissions were revealed, documents from committees had emerged.
Among other things, one could read that the Foreign Office had warned of a false “signal” through evacuations.
Months of disputes between the ministries - apparently against Merkel's declared will - became public.
All the latest news about developments in Afghanistan can be found in our daily Afghanistan newsletter.
The federal government has also announced that it will be cleared up.
But the opposition expressed strong concerns in the Bundestag on Wednesday.
On the one hand, because the SPD is only considering a commission of inquiry to deal with it, although a parliamentary committee of inquiry would have much more resources at its disposal.
On the other hand, the Greens failed in the Foreign Affairs Committee with an explosive motion: They had called for a "deletion moratorium" for files on the Afghanistan crisis.
Union and SPD refused.
Afghanistan: Greens indirectly raise serious allegations against Merkel's GroKo - "things are disappearing"
“We have already seen files suddenly disappear,” said Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock, angry in the Bundestag plenary. Member of the parliamentary group Agnieszka Brugger later added a warning in the plenary with a warning: “From past investigative committees” one knows that things “are quickly forgotten, or disappear or are deleted”.
CDU defense expert Jürgen Hardt responded coolly to Brugger's question as to why the GroKo had rejected the moratorium: "We were unable to approve this proposal today because we did not find the shop window character so happy," he said. In Germany, for example, there are already clear regulations through the Archives Act. There will be enough time "without frothing at the mouth" to clarify the open questions. The Green Parliamentary Managing Director Britta Haßelmann was astonished - after all, it would not have been the first time that such a moratorium had been applied for and decided.
The topic is not off the table for the Greens: parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt warned in a letter to the Chancellery of a further "obstruction and concealment of comprehensive clarification" and called on Chancellery chief Helge Braun (CDU) to stop deleting after the rejection in the To initiate the committee itself.
Afghanistan dispute: Baerbock makes imprecise demands - CDU counters cool
Hardt also appeased the issue of the committee of inquiry. There is simply no such application, he said. He also thinks that's right - there will be a new Bundestag in two months, and the newly elected parliament should then take the necessary steps. Baerbock had declared: "If you want to clarify, then you agree to a committee of inquiry now." Apparently an at least imprecise formulation: The Greens are actually campaigning for a committee of inquiry that could be set up after the federal election.
Among other things, they have the FDP at their side. In the case of Afghanistan, "the reconstruction and processing was not done in a few special sessions," said party leader Christian Lindner. "The hearing of witnesses and the viewing of classified documents" would not be possible in a study commission, warned. At least for the open questions about the trigger, a committee of inquiry is asked. (
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