Germany: Greens to hold special party congress on Afghanistan

When the Greens were in government with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 2001, they unreservedly supported the despatch of the Bundeswehr to Afghanistan, and still do. One of the Green Party’s founding members, Tom Koenigs, is now a UN Special Envoy in Afghanistan. In numerous press interviews, Koenigs has called for more troops to be stationed in Afghanistan.

The Greens are opposed, however, to an extension of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)—here again, there is broad agreement in the party.

The Greens had previously supported German participation in OEF. Party chair Claudia Roth justified this in 2001 with the words: “It is not a question of a war against a country, a war against a religion, but the fight against terrorism, whereby I do not exclude repressive police and military means.”

However, the party has since reached the conclusion that it would be more helpful to German interests in Afghanistan if they were no longer associated with the US military and OEF. An end to the OEF mandate would not be difficult, since there are only some 100 members of Germany’s Special Forces unit involved with OEF. Moreover, according to the Bundeswehr, these forces have not seen active duty for more than two years.