Wednesday, September 22, 2021
“Incredible accomplishments”
AKK justifies mission in Afghanistan
In Lower Saxony, Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer paid tribute to the soldiers of the Afghanistan evacuation for their commitment. She also considers the almost 20-year stay in the Bundeswehr to be right. Now, however, it is a matter of “learning from the Afghanistan mission and its end,” stressed AKK.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer justified the almost 20 years of deployment of the German armed forces in Afghanistan in front of soldiers. At the same time, after the end of this mission, an “open and honest” balance must be drawn, said the CDU politician in an appeal for participants in the evacuation mission from Kabul. Chancellor Angela Merkel also took part in the event in the paratrooper barracks in Seedorf in Lower Saxony.
Kramp-Karrenbauer and Merkel paid tribute to the soldiers of the Bundeswehr who took part in the evacuation mission in Afghanistan. The eleven-day operation in August over Kabul Airport was the largest evacuation mission in the history of the Bundeswehr to date. Around 600 emergency services were involved, including federal police officers and diplomats.
At the return roll call in Seedorf, some members of the German Armed Forces were awarded the medal on behalf of all those involved. “The mission in Afghanistan was right,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. “You have put yourself in danger and saved many lives”. “Under the most difficult of circumstances” and in “great danger”, the soldiers “achieved incredible things” in August and brought 5,347 people out of the country via Kabul airport after the radical Islamic Taliban came to power. Germany is “deeply indebted to those involved”.
“Realistic objectives” for future use
Now it is also a question of “learning from the Afghanistan mission and its end,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. “Realistic objectives” for future missions are also necessary. The Defense Secretary stressed that the evacuation operation would not have been possible without the US military capabilities such as armed drones or aerial refueling. “If you want us to be able to do more ourselves in the future, you have to dig deep into your pockets.” The aim must be to “make the Bundeswehr more operational and fitter”.
She referred to stronger military cooperation in Europe. The member states would have to show the will to be able to “give the EU real capacity to act for its own security”. Europe and the European pillar in NATO must become an actor “who operates on an equal footing with others”.
After the terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001, Germany participated as an ally in NATO-led operations in Afghanistan. When the Americans withdrew that summer, control of the Asian country quickly returned to the militant Islamist Taliban.