GERMANY’S DEFENCE minister has admitted the war in Afghanistan cannot be won by military means alone, and that Berlin played down the danger German troops faced in the early years of the mission.
He was speaking at the launch of a new book, Rest in Peace, Soldiers, which says Berlin has realised that covering up the reality of the Afghan mission was doing more damage than coming clean.
“Yes, many mistakes were made and the danger of the mission was played down from the start,” said Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. “But this incorrect behaviour, which is perfectly open to criticism is, in my view, more down to the fact that all were overwhelmed.”
Frankness like that is likely to boost further the popularity of the 39-year-old baron after just over a year as a cabinet minister. Since moving into Berlin’s defence ministry, he has corrected the course and narrative on the unpopular Afghanistan mission, opposed by nearly 80 per cent of Germans.
What until 2009 was about “stabilisation” – building schools and digging wells – is now, in the words of Mr Guttenberg, a “war” involving 5,350 soldiers. Some 26 German soldiers have been killed since 2003, a figure he admits is going to rise.
Everything changed in Berlin after last September’s air strike on two tankers near Kunduz – ordered by a Bundeswehr general – that killed 142, including dozens of civilians.
The authors of the book, two journalists from the Bild tabloid, argues that until that point Germany never wanted its soldiers involved in active combat. When that became impossible, to defend themselves against Taliban attack, the authors say Berlin tried to keep it quiet.
“We think that in the last months a new kind of dialogue has begun between civil society, media and politics about the military,” said author Julian Reichelt. “The relief we have felt among soldiers in the last weeks shows that in the last years – almost 10 at this stage – the soldiers felt decoupled from society.” At the launch, Mr Guttenberg said it was pointless to try and talk up NATO’s Afghanistan mission.
“One will never be able to reach a final conclusion over Afghanistan, just interim balances,” he said. “This war cannot be won solely on a military level.” The job of German soldiers in Afghanistan was, he said, to “ensure a minimum level of stability” before a withdrawal, pencilled in for 2013.