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Bundeswehr soldiers during the final roll call for the Afghanistan mission
Photo: CLEMENS BILAN / EPA
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer recalled the deaths of 59 soldiers in the Federal Armed Forces mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
At the same time, the CDU politician thanked the men and women of the Bundeswehr for their service at the central closing roll call in Berlin.
“No previous mission has shaped the Bundeswehr as much as this mission in Afghanistan.
No one before has been so long, so intense, so dangerous, ”she said.
According to Kramp-Karrenbauer, the Bundeswehr has fulfilled its mandate given by parliament.
However, she warned against excessive expectations of the deployment of the military abroad.
For an honest balance: "Germany's claim in Afghanistan was greater than what the Bundeswehr could have achieved."
Kramp-Karrenbauer said of the Bundeswehr's achievements: “Afghanistan has not posed a terrorist threat to the alliance for 20 years.
They all built the Afghan security forces out of nothing.
A generation of men and women could grow up more freely and safely.
But there are also some things that the Bundeswehr as an army cannot do: building a civil society, building a democracy or building an economy are not the tasks of armed forces. "
Regarding the victory of the militant Islamist Taliban, she said the Afghan security forces had been well trained.
»But: An army has to know what it is fighting for, it needs support and solidarity.
Both, and that is a bitter lesson, can hardly be trained from the outside. "
Steinmeier: The fall of Kabul was a turning point
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned against wrong conclusions from the takeover of power by the Taliban. “For me, one thing is certain: the fall of Kabul was a turning point. We are at a crossroads that forces us to reflect on our responsibility in the world, our possibilities and their limits in a new and self-critical manner, «said Steinmeier. »I hope that in 20 years we will not look back at this crossroads and say: Resignation and withdrawal were the answer to Afghanistan. It would be the wrong doctrine! "
Steinmeier referred to Germany's role as the most populous EU country and the fourth largest economy in the world. Against the background of German history and also one's own interests, one should not be indifferent to what is happening in the world. "That is why withdrawal from the world must not be our answer," said Steinmeier. "I am convinced that German foreign and security policy after Afghanistan must become more honest, smarter and stronger." He also demanded that Germany should become stronger in its capabilities, including in the military.
In the run-up to the appeal, the chairman of the Federal Armed Forces Association, André Wüstner, asked the federal government to develop specific and achievable goals for the deployment of German soldiers abroad.
“These goals must be realistic.
In recent years we have noticed that politics has often formulated a feasibility illusion, and soldiers and development workers have asked themselves: How can that be possible here? ”Said the lieutenant colonel.
Bundeswehrverband calls for exit strategies for deployments abroad
In addition, Wüstner urged the federal ministries to cooperate more closely on missions abroad. “Last but not least, it is important that the ministries work better together - the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Development. And that there is coordination, ideally from the Chancellery, ”he said. "This work in different tubes no longer has a future, that was a major reason for the failure with a view to achieving the goal in Afghanistan."
With a view to the current Federal Armed Forces deployment in West Africa, he demands: “It is also elementary for Mali that we specify goals and state what kind of final state we would like in the region so that we can end our engagement again.
This exit strategy, which science keeps talking about, did not exist for Afghanistan and it still does not exist for Mali to this day. "
In the evening, a big tattoo is to take place in front of the Reichstag building to honor the achievements of the soldiers in Afghanistan.
svs / dpa
