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SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / DPA
The Left Party - like the SPD and the Greens - are campaigning for a real change of government in the federal elections, they want to prevent a Union Chancellor. But whether the parties can forge a center-left alliance remains questionable after the recent vote on the rescue mandate for Afghanistan. Only five left-wing MPs agreed to the evacuation mission. SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil accused the parliamentary group of indecency because of the many no-votes and abstentions.
"Soldiers from my home region are in Kabul, at the risk of their lives," said Klingbeil to the broadcasters RTL and n-tv.
"They have saved 5,000 people in the last few days, they have saved lives, and what they need is full support from Parliament." the left is unpredictable when it comes to foreign and security policy. "
"The left is running away from responsibility"
Other representatives of the SPD and the Greens were also indignant about the course of the left.
The Green politician Cem Özdemir had doubts about the party's ability to govern in the face of the »world«: »In a government it could not behave like that,« said Özdemir.
"With its erratic voting behavior, the left is obstructing its ability to act in foreign policy and running away from responsibility."
Özdemir emphasized that the Bundeswehr's deployment in the international evacuation mission at Kabul airport was aimed at rescuing people.
"It is incomprehensible to me that the parliamentary group on the left in the Bundestag wants to abstain from voting on a rescue mission in which life and death will be decided," he said.
"It is extremely disappointing that on the one hand the left is demanding protection of people threatened by the Taliban in Afghanistan and then refusing to be helped," said SPD foreign expert Nils Schmid of "Welt".
It would have been easy to "fly the flag" on this point, said Schmid.
"This renewed refusal of the left in a highly explosive field in terms of foreign policy does not make rapprochement and deliberations of future coalitions any easier."
The former chairman of the Left parliamentary group, Sahra Wagenknecht, described the allegations in a tweet as "outrageous" and a "cheap attempt at diversion": The SPD was largely responsible for the disaster in Afghanistan and made this "hasty rescue mission" necessary in the first place.
During an election campaign in Weimar on Wednesday, Wagenknecht described the delayed evacuation as a "shame".
Surrendering the local staff to the Islamist Taliban "is really negligent aiding and abetting murder, negligent aiding and abetting murder, and I think it is an unparalleled scandal," said Wagenknecht.
Five votes in favor, 43 abstentions - and seven against
During the vote, the Bundestag subsequently approved the evacuation mandate of the Bundeswehr.
A large majority of MPs had agreed: Union, SPD, FDP and Greens all voted yes.
In the AfD and the Left, however, there were deviants.
In the left-wing parliamentary group, only five voted yes, seven voted no.
The remaining 43 MPs abstained.
For the left, the vote was still a novelty. The faction has consistently rejected all previous Bundeswehr missions in the past: On the other hand, they did not want to shut themselves off completely on the rescue mission. Parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch had previously justified the rejection with the fact that the mandate did not provide extensive security to save all Afghan local workers. "It's a disaster," says Bartsch. The development in Afghanistan is the "blackest point" in the 16-year chancellorship of Angela Merkel.
According to the latest surveys, it is currently not enough for a left alliance of the SPD, the Greens and the Left in the federal election - but a majority is within the realm of the possible.
All three parties are similar when it comes to questions of climate protection and social justice.
Foreign and security policy, on the other hand, is seen as the greatest obstacle to such an alliance.
mrc / dpa
