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Germany makes last-ditch effort to rectify failed Afghan strategy

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Berlin, Jan 27, IRNA -- German political leaders openly admit that the new Afghanistan strategy is seen as last desperate attempt to rectify past mistakes in the war-stricken country which is grappling with a tenacious Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency.

A high-ranking German government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in Berlin on Tuesday that the new Afghanistan strategic concept which includes sending up to 850 additional soldiers and doubling development aid, was basically the last hope to restore peace, stability and security in that country.

"All efforts have to be undertaken to make plan A work, if we want to prevent a civil war in Afghanistan," the official said ahead of a key UN conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday.

"This is about a new approach to an old problem and learning from past mistakes," he added.

The official stressed Berlin's new Afghan strategy was geared at promoting a political settlement of the ongoing conflict in the Asian country.

"A political solution which would prevent a civil war is in the interest of the Afghan people, in the interest of the region and ultimately also in the interest of ourselves," he added.

The political and also moral bankruptcy of Germany's policy in Afghanistan has also been highlighted in the press in recent days.

The center-leftist Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper writes that the new Afghanistan strategy is "admitting failure."

"The federal (German) government wants only to end the mission against Taliban without losing face," the paper says.

It added that the new strategy was in line with the recently unveiled US Afghan policy whose primary objective is to make a last-ditch effort to improve the West's bargaining position in its negotiations with insurgents prior to its full withdrawal from Afghanistan within 18 months.

The Frankfurt-based daily stressed that the West was no longer pre-occcupied with establishing peace, freedom and democracy in Afghanistan as it was confronted with a major popular protest wave against the Afghan war across Europe and the US.

According to various opinion polls, more than 70 percent for Germans oppose the military campaign in Afghanistan.

The weekly news magazine Focus echoed the assessment of the Frankfurter Rundschau by pointing out that the new German strategy has "only little prospects to succeed."

The political debate about a time-table for a German troop pullout from Afghanistan was intensified in the wake of the September 4, 2009 NATO bombing in Kunduz which killed and injured dozens of mostly civilians.

Berlin's political damage-control in the aftermath of the Kunduz massacre failed miserably, leading to the sacking of two leading military officials.

The rising death toll of German soldiers in Afghanistan last year has also had a profound impact on public opinion.

German military deaths in Afghanistan were reportedly up in 2009 compared with a year ago.

Five soldiers died in the war-hit country last year, two more than 2008.

The main question that still lingers over the disputed eight-year-long German military mission in Afghanistan is the exact purpose and objective of the campaign which many experts have labeled "mission impossible."

The new strategy is not expected to help clarify the ultimate goals of Berlin's military operation in Afghanistan.

OT**1771

End News / IRNA / News Code 921259