GERMAN CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel said Germany’s military presence in Afghanistan helps protect civilians at home, as she defended the mission amid rising public opposition and mounting German casualties.
Dr Merkel, addressing parliament as lawmakers paid their respects to seven German soldiers killed in combat this month, stood by her government’s decision to send 500 extra troops to Afghanistan this year.
The Nato engagement is necessary to deal with the threat posed by international terrorism that has “taken on a new quality”, she said.
“Our security to live in freedom is being endangered by events that take place far from our borders,” Dr Merkel said in a speech in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, in Berlin yesterday.
“The security of Germany, the security of Europe, the security of our partners in the world is being defended in the Hindu Kush.”
A German-ordered air strike last year killed as many as 142 people, including civilians, a Nato report found.
This has fuelled opposition to the war, with a record 62 per cent of Germans calling for a pull-out from Afghanistan, according to an April 14th opinion poll in Stern magazine.
“We can’t expect bravery from our soldiers if we ourselves don’t have the courage to stand by what we’ve decided,” the chancellor said.
Dr Merkel was speaking as defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg prepared to testify today to a parliamentary inquiry into the September 4th air strike.
The bombing in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz prompted the opposition to ask questions about when members of the government knew of civilian deaths, and caused the resignation of Mr Guttenberg’s predecessor, Franz Josef Jung.
Mr Guttenberg initially deemed the strike “militarily appropriate” a week after taking office in November, only to reverse his stance a month later. He said he had not had access to all reports on the attack and fired his two top military aides. – (Bloomberg)