Zu Guttenberg Unveils Future Strategy for Afghanistan
Berlin, 26.01.2010.
Dr. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, Federal Minister of Defence and General Volker Wieker, the new Chief of Staff, Bundeswehr, set out the German strategy for Afghanistan during a press conference on 26 January. Two days prior to the International Conference on Afghanistan in London, the Minister presented the Bundeswehr's future military approach to contributing to the reconstruction of the country.
In front of the press, zu Guttenberg emphasized that "the new strategy of the Federal Government will be an all-embracing approach harmonizing the measures taken by the different ministries."
Before the Minister made his declaration, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had already given individual statements on Germany's future strategy for Afghanistan which will also be presented to the partner nations at the upcoming International Conference on Afghanistan.
Protect the population and boost training
"The approach adopted by the Federal Government is based on a true change of strategy. This change aims amongst other things at opening up a credible perspective for the withdrawal of our troops,"
zu Guttenberg underlined. According to him, such a perspective is "tied to objectives with completely new priorities."
For the military component this means "protecting the population and boosting training efforts to achieve visible success in this field as well,"
the Minister said.
Germany will continue to assume command responsibility for northern Afghanistan where the Alliance partners will also provide more forces. "All this provides the framework for what we want to and will achieve in military terms,"
zu Guttenberg said. Apart from this commitment, Germany also intends to close existing capability gaps, for instance with regard to training capacities and the number of helicopters.
Zu Guttenberg: "Presence throughout our operating area"
To improve training of the Afghan security forces and protect the population there will be shifts of priorities in the current Bundeswehr contingent. In addition, forces are to be augmented. "We have come to the conclusion that we will need 500 more troops to be able to ensure protection and training. Our focus here will be on protecting the civilian population and training Afghan soldiers,"
the Minister said. Another 350 troops are to stand by as a flexible reserve. "More protection and training instead of offensive combat forces,"
zu Guttenberg commented on this restructuring.
Partnering will be the key element of this new strategy. "Partnering means in particular that we demonstrate presence throughout the operating area which is by no means an offensive presence but rather connected with protection of the population and training and that we, as a result, minimize areas of retreat for the Taliban and isolate them somewhat from the population,"
the Minister said.
All this, he summarized, will require "the current mandate to be reconfigured."
Zu Guttenberg also spoke about the dangers of the mission: "We owe it to the German public to make it clear that Afghanistan is a dangerous area of operations and that, however much we hope that this will not be the case, soldiers may be killed and wounded in Afghanistan. This openness is absolutely necessary."
