Germany divided on increasing its troops in Afghanistan

Ahmed Galal

Demands by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union for raising the number of German troops in Afghanistan were met with both rejection and suspicion by the Social Democratic Party and the Greens.

German Defense Minister, Ursula von der Leyen who is a Christian Democratic Union member, raised the issue soon after wrapping up a visit to Afghanistan earlier this week.

Around 1,000 German troops are deployed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission for training Afghan army troops.

During a visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel who belongs to the Social Democratic Party, said he was open to discussions on raising the number of German troops in the country.

Henning Otte, a defense affairs expert at the Christian Democratic Union, said raising the number of troops protecting German military trainers in Afghanistan was necessary, or those trainers would find it difficult to carry out their mission.

This was, however, rejected by the Social Democratic Party. A party defense affairs specialist said raising the number of troops would only be considered if Afghanistan had succeeded in achieving a minimum degree of security without outside help.

The German government agreed last year to extend the mission of its troops in Afghanistan to aid local security forces.

The NATO mission in Afghanistan is made up of 13,000 soldiers. They come from Germany, Italy, the US and other countries. NATO troops mainly focus on training Afghan army and police forces.

The German government has been investigating the political affiliations of its troops in Afghanistan since July 2017, Germany media said, after discovering the presence of 20 Islamic extremists within these troops.