Posted on 10/16/2008 3:12:23 PM PDT by austrian
Germany's parliament has voted to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan and to deploy an extra 1,000 troops there.
The decision will keep German troops in Afghanistan until December 2009, boosting their number to 4,500.
Germany is the third-biggest contributor to the 47,000-strong Nato-led force.
The plan put forward by Chancellor Angela Merkel was overwhelmingly approved by members of the lower house.
The motion was backed by 442 MPs, while 96 voted against it and there were 32 abstentions.
The move already has the support of the upper chamber of parliament.
"This decision contributes to the stabilisation and peaceful development of Afghanistan," said Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung.
The German contingent is based in the relatively calm northern regions of Afghanistan.
But Berlin has been under pressure from its Nato allies not only to boost troop levels but to also shift soldiers from the north to the more dangerous south to help fight Taleban insurgents.
However, the Afghanistan mission is deeply unpopular in Germany and has been sharply criticised by some left-wing politicians one year ahead of a general election.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Good for Germany in making the right call.
interesting they boost the numbers 1 year before the next elections and the mission (very unpopular) will end in 2009 just close before the elections. coincidence?
What difference does it make, if they just stay on base drinking beer and surfing porno, doing ZERO (no, none,zip) combat missions outside the wire????
hm. it´s true that the north of afghanistan is much safer (at least compared to the south) but this does not mean that nothing happens there. as far as i know 28 german soldiers have died in afghanistan untill now. so it´s shure not a cakewalk
They have done NO combat missions. The allies are saying “go home if you don’t want to fight.” I’m not blaming the individual soldiers, but their political leaders. If any have been killed in Afganistan, it has been by accident, (IED bomb getting lucky with a passing vehicle), not on combat patrols.
yep that´s german public. like austria (even worse) people have been told for centuries that our armies are no longer here to fight somewhere (they are only there for defending the fatherland “which is a real joke in times of EU and the location of this countries”) this means most of the people here have believed this and no politician dares to change this
because he would have to admit that they lied. this means most of the people think this way. hey we can be proud that they get real ammo for this mission. most of the people would send them there with blank ammo because god forbit otherwise they could hurt someone. this is the reality.
A long time ago I did some training with the German Kampfschwimmer Kompanie. I know for sure the German troops would enjoy going on combat patrols, and I blame the politicians 100% for keeping them “safe” on base.
you are correct the politicians are to blame for this. the soldiers have nothing to do with it. but there is no change in sight. in germany it´s like in austria. politicians love to show pictures of “helping soldiers” (and telling everybody they are only there to do this). this means you will find tousands of pictures where you can see our soldiers around the globe giving a little kid a hug
or helping the locals. this is the picture they presented to the public in the last centuries. the problem is that many people here believed this so it´s hard to tell em right now that they lied all the time and we could use our soldiers for what they are trained for (still combat and not a group hug). this goes that far that for example in austria (we bought some black hawks “btw. fully armed” in the last years) and politicians didn´t stop pretending that we needed them because if (happens some times here in the winter) again some tourists are cut off because of snow we could use them to fly them out (not that we would lack civilian helos for this).so HELLO?????? but no problem people swallowed this. this is standart. so now go and tell the people that we will use our military for what they are designed for in real life (you would not believe it but it´s still combat). most of the people here would say WTF??? because it would burst the bubble politicians worked so hard for to build in the past.
The german army is instructed not look for trouble but to act as the salvation army. They build water preparation facilities and schools, educate local authorities. All this civil stuff to educate afghans to become more civilized people. The calculation is simple: Civilized people don’t like radical taliban.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.