Afghanistan: Heiko Maas gave failure a face – politics

It was not a pleasant appointment for the Federal Foreign Minister, at least by the standards of the time. In a confusing situation, Heiko Maas had to ask the Bundestag one last time in March to extend the Bundeswehr’s mission in Afghanistan. It was clear that the US wanted the withdrawal. Was unsure how quickly. “If we rush to withdraw our soldiers, there is a serious danger that the Taliban will seek a solution on the battlefield instead of continuing to negotiate,” warned the Foreign Minister. That would lead to “all the dramatic consequences for everything that we have built in Afghanistan with the people on the ground – with civil society, with those who are politically responsible – over the past two decades.” Then came a sentence that from today’s perspective must sound very hollow: “We don’t want to pay the price.”