Status: 09/19/2022 4:51 p.m
The Bundeswehr’s Afghanistan mission lasted 20 years and ended in a hurry. There is a lot to do for politics. Two bodies want to start this week – with different goals.
What ended with the dramatic evacuation mission in Kabul in the summer of 2021 had its beginning in 2001: Germany took part in the international operation against Islamist terrorism in Afghanistan. In almost 20 years, around 160,000 German soldiers were deployed there. 59 of them died. But since the withdrawal of the Americans, the international troops and the return of the Taliban last year, the commitment has been in question.
Women’s rights severely restricted
Thousands of people have fled Afghanistan since then. Some lost their lives in the process, others had to return or had no chance of getting out of the country. A lot has changed, especially for women, and their rights have been increasingly restricted. “Insidiously sentenced to death” – that’s what Amnesty International called a study on women’s rights in Afghanistan.
The human rights organization writes that women and girls are discriminated against in almost every area of life, and their protest against this is violently suppressed. They cannot go to schools or universities. The number of child marriages, early marriages and forced marriages has risen sharply. There is obviously a lot to work on.
“A lot of things didn’t work out”
Two committees want to start this week. Today one of them is meeting for the first time: the commission of inquiry “Lessons from Afghanistan for Germany’s future networked engagement”. It consists of twelve members of the Bundestag from the various parliamentary groups. In addition, there are twelve experts named by the factions – including General a. D. Egon Ramms or the political scientists Ursula Schröder and Carlo Masala.
The SPD member of the Bundestag, Michael Müller, will chair the meeting. “A lot of things didn’t work out,” he summed up immediately after the first meeting of the commission. The Bundeswehr commitment did not bring lasting security and stability. In many areas, the situation today is like it was 20 years ago. “Were the orders for the mission clear enough? Were the Bundeswehr and civilian forces adequately supported and equipped?” Müller wants to find answers to these questions with the commission. So it’s about the big picture, above all to learn lessons for future missions – as the name itself says.
Local forces were left behind
This is probably what differentiates the commission of inquiry the most from the other body that will start its work on Thursday: the committee of inquiry into the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan by the German armed forces and their allies. Only members of the Bundestag can be found there. The number is based on the size of the factions.
They look less ahead and mainly backwards. Among other things, it is about finding out why the speed of the recapture by the Taliban was so underestimated. Were there enough contingency plans?
The question of how it came about that numerous Afghan local workers who had worked for the Bundeswehr and other German institutions were left behind should also be clarified. Of the 20 years of operations in Afghanistan, as with the commission of inquiry, only the last year and a half are in focus here.
Extensive powers for subcommittee
And there are other differences: while the committee of inquiry can only invite those previously responsible for surveys, the committee of inquiry has far-reaching powers. Members have the right to compel witnesses and experts to appear and testify before the Committee. They can also request files and documents, and even courts and administrative authorities are obliged to provide legal and administrative assistance.
No concrete end date is given for the committee in the investigation order. The parliamentarians usually use the entire legislature, depending on the number of files to be viewed or witnesses to be heard.
The commission of inquiry set up today, on the other hand, is supposed to present a final report to the Bundestag after the 2024 summer break at the latest. Even if some members hope that they will even manage to complete a report in this legislature.