Germany Discusses Extending Afghanistan Mandate

Gernot Erler, foreign affairs expert for the Social Democrat Party (SPD), told the Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday that Germany could “theoretically deploy” as many as 700 troops for peacekeeping missions in provinces outside of Kabul, where security remains a problem. The troops would be those freed up from their duties in the current International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, when Germany relinquishes its leadership of the troops to NATO.

Erler was speaking in reaction to reports suggesting that Germany could be engaged in Afghanistan in a “regional reconstruction team” that would go beyond Kabul. Until now German troops have been confined to maintaining security in Kabul as part of ISAF.

But Christian Schmidt, defense policy speaker for the opposition Christian Social Union, dismissed the idea of extending the mandate beyond the capital city, saying the Union would not agree to action on such a large scale. However, both politicians have said that a discussion about the goals of further deployment will be a prerequisite to any decision.

Seeking clarity

“I don’t have the impression that we know what peace-establishing effect this team should have as its goal,” Schmidt said. But there needs to be a clear concept in place, in order to keep a mandate extension from becoming a political football, he said.

A suicide bombing in Kabul several months ago killed four German troops and injured 29 others, the worst-ever attack on the force. The killings heated up debate over the country’s role in the ISAF force, and raised questions about the need to police areas outside of the capital.

Germany has the largest number of troops in ISAF, with 2,600 soldiers stationed in Kabul. Germany has been called upon by the United States, United Nations, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai to extend its mission beyond the capital. Currently, the only troops operating outside Kabul are those in a U.S.-led coalition force hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in the south and east of Afghanistan.

NATO stays in place

Meanwhile, NATO has said it will stay in Afghanistan as long as it is needed following its takeover of command of the ISAF forces in August, an ISAF spokesman said earlier this week.

"The actual mandate of ISAF lasts until June 2004 according to the underlying political frame, which is the Bonn agreement, and NATO on the other hand is prepared to take over indefinitely as long as there will be a political need for ISAF," German Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Loebbering told reporters at a press conference.

Loebbering stressed that non-NATO nations would continue to contribute troops to ISAF after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation assumes command, pointing out that non-NATO New Zealand and Switzerland would still provide troops.

ISAF currently has around 4,600 troops contributed by 15 NATO members and 15 non-NATO nations. However, around 90 percent of those soldiers are from NATO nations.