Commemorative act for the Afghanistan mission: Thanks to the soldiers – criticism of the expectations

The Bundeswehr thanked the forces of the Afghanistan mission with a big tattoo in front of the Reichstag building. Representatives of the state previously drew a mixed balance of the 20 years of engagement in the Hindu Kush.

The Bundestag and the Federal Government thanked the men and women of the Bundeswehr deployed in Afghanistan for their difficult mission. The highlight of the memory of the Afghanistan mission was a big tattoo in front of the Reichstag building in the evening. The highest military ceremony was held on Republic Square with torchbearers and several pieces of music. Representatives of the five constitutional bodies were present, including Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Steinmeier: “Difficult, bitter questions”

In the afternoon, Merkel and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, among others, took part in a closing roll call on the parade ground of the Ministry of Defense. The 59 soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan over the past 20 years were also commemorated there, 35 of them in combat or attacks. “You paid the highest price a soldier can pay on behalf of his country. We are deeply indebted to you,” said Steinmeier, who, like Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, spoke to the soldiers and guests.

After the radical Islamic Taliban came to power in August, Steinmeier took stock of the operation critically. “Twenty years after September 11th and two months after the fall of Kabul, many people who served and suffered in Afghanistan are asking questions. Questions about the meaning of this mission. They are difficult questions, bitter questions,” said Steinmeier. “They are aimed at parliament and the governments that sent the Bundeswehr to Afghanistan.”

Steinmeier also warned against wrong conclusions from the takeover. “For me it is clear: the fall of Kabul was a turning point. We are at a crossroads that forces us to rethink our responsibility in the world, our possibilities and its limits,” he said. “I hope that in 20 years we will not look back at this crossroads and say: Resignation and withdrawal were the answer to Afghanistan. It would be the wrong lesson.” He is convinced: “German foreign and security policy after Afghanistan must become more honest, smarter and stronger.”

Kramp-Karrenbauer: “Bundeswehr has done its job”

In her speech, Kramp-Karrenbauer said the question was why, despite all the efforts and resources, it was not possible to build a stable, self-supporting political and social order in Afghanistan. No other mission shaped the Bundeswehr as much as Afghanistan. “No one before has been so long, so intense, so dangerous.” The Bundeswehr had fulfilled its mandate given by parliament. For an honest balance, however, it should also be noted: “Germany’s claim in Afghanistan was greater than what the Bundeswehr could have achieved.”

“Afghanistan has not posed a terrorist threat to the alliance for 20 years. You all built the Afghan security forces from nothing,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. “A generation of men and women could grow up more freely and safely. But there are also some things that the Bundeswehr as an army cannot do: building a civil society, building democracy or building an economy are not the tasks of armed forces.”

Regarding the Taliban’s victory, she said the Afghan security forces had been well trained. “But: An army has to know what it is fighting for, it needs support and solidarity. Both, and that is a bitter lesson, can hardly be trained from outside.”

Seehofer thanks the police

Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer also thanked the police officers deployed in Afghanistan. At a meeting with 19 officials from the last contingent, he said: “It is thanks to your commitment that Germany enjoys a high level of appreciation, esteem and respect internationally.”

A total of 1,500 German police officers were deployed in Afghanistan over the years. They supported the establishment of the Afghan police force, ensured the protection of German diplomats and helped with the practical handling of deportations from Germany to Afghanistan.

Schäuble: Parliament has to draw conclusions

Shortly before the big tattoo, Bundestag President Wolfang Schäuble received members of the armed forces in parliament. “We, the MEPs who have sent you on this mission, have learned that the order we have given could not be carried out as we had hoped,” he said in the manuscript. “It wasn’t up to you.”

Parliament must also look for and name the reasons for this – and draw conclusions from them, said Schäuble. “That is our responsibility, we owe it to you, the veterans, the fallen, those who died in action and their families and comrades who have returned injured.” The Greens, the FDP and the Left are calling for an investigative committee of the Bundestag to come to terms with the Afghanistan mission.

Criticism from peace organizations

There was also criticism of the big tattoo on the occasion of the Afghanistan mission: several peace organizations described this ceremony of the highest military honor as “absolutely inappropriate”. The medical peace organization IPPNW referred, among other things, to the catastrophic health situation in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of NATO troops. With the big tattoo, the federal government is distracting from its own responsibility in the Afghanistan disaster.