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Bundeswehr soldiers on their return from Afghanistan after the end of the evacuation mission
Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
With a final roll call and a subsequent big tattoo on Wednesday, Berlin politicians paid tribute to the 20-year end of the deployment of German soldiers in Afghanistan.
The 59 men who were killed or died there should also be remembered.
In advance, however, the Bundestag's defense commissioner, Eva Högl (SPD), warned that the deployment should be further processed.
"The Afghanistan mission was the most formative and dangerous mission of the Bundeswehr so far," she told the editorial network Germany.
At the same time, however, a further processing of the mission is necessary.
Wounded "in body and soul"
"Around 160,000 soldiers were deployed there, 59 German soldiers lost their lives in the Hindu Kush," Högl told the papers.
Many have been wounded "in body and soul" and are still suffering from the consequences.
"It is up to you to express our thanks and appreciation with the celebrations."
The deployment "also had a positive impact on the Bundeswehr," added Högl.
She has become more professional and has proven herself in action.
"We should remind you of that too now."
"Clear guidelines and realistic goals"
After the »implosion of the political system in Afghanistan«, however, the operation had to »be accounted for in a comprehensive, open and ruthless manner«, demanded Högl.
A study commission in the German Bundestag is a good framework for this.
“We have to discuss the Bundeswehr missions abroad more intensively.
The soldiers need clear guidelines and realistic goals, «she said.
The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is also calling for more work to be done.
She sees the Federal Government as being responsible for the failure in Afghanistan.
"It was not the soldiers who let the Afghanistan engagement fail, but the federal government, which was unable and unwilling to evaluate and adapt its goals," Strack-Zimmermann told the dpa news agency.
"The patient wakes up and is still not saved"
»The task of the Bundeswehr is comparable to that of an anesthetist during an operation.
All he can do is keep the patient quiet for a while, ”said Strack-Zimmermann.
“During this time, the surgeon, ie politics, has to get down to work.
If she doesn't, even the best anesthesia won't help.
The patient wakes up and is still not saved. "
The German government will be honoring the soldiers involved in the Afghanistan mission with several events on Wednesday.
In the afternoon there will be an appeal at the Ministry of Defense at 2:30 p.m.
In the evening at 7 p.m., the so-called big tattoo in front of the Reichstag building follows.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will also pay tribute to the commitment.
mrc / dpa
