Berlin 30-01-2010
Almost 80 percent – four in five Germans – oppose Berlin’s plans to increase its number of troops in Afghanistan.
This, according to a poll released Wednesday, a day before the international London conference on Afghanistan.
Germany presently has 4,300 troops in the northern part of the Afghanistan, the third largest contingent in the US led mission.
The number of German defence personnel in Afghanistan is explicitly limited by a Bundestag parliamentary mandate and has been capped at 4,500. The decision to increase the number of troops has come after extensive and acrimonious argument between political parties and government ministries in Berlin – the US had asked the German government for 2,000 or more troops.
Even among chancellor Merkel’s conservative CDU a large majority have said they objected to adding soldiers – among members of the junior coalition partner, the FDP, the rate was even higher.
Given the domestic political constraints Merkel is under, her action can be seen as either foolishly stubborn or courageous – depending on your political point of view.
In Germany, the horrors of World War II still loom large on any debates regarding military missions abroad. All parties in parliament –some more than others and in varying degrees – support the 8 yr old Afghan deployment, with the exception of the former Communist party, ‘Die Linke’.
Tags: berlin government, german troops, merkel
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