More German troops for Afghanistan? Ahead of the London conference on Afghanistan (28 January), a split in the German government between foreign minister Westerwelle and defence minister Guttenberg over the engagement in Afghanistan becomes obvious. Spiegel reports:
For weeks, politicians in the German capital have refused to speak about a possible increase in troop numbers for Afghanistan or an intensification of Germany’s engagement prior to the London summit. But behind closed doors, the debate over Germany’s position has become intense, and it pits two of Merkel’s leading ministers against one another: Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle stands in almost direct opposition to Defense Minister Theodor zu Guttenberg. (…)
The rivalry became more obvious than ever on Monday. The setting was a meeting of top government ministers — the so-called “Afghanistan Round” — to determine Berlin’s course in London. Those attending were Merkel, Guttenberg, Westerwelle, Ronald Pofalla the general secretary of the Christian Democrats, Interior Minister Thomas de Mazière and Dirk Niebel, minister for economic cooperation and development. But agreement proved elusive. Westerwelle made it clear that he would, under no conditions, agree to a premature pledge to increase the number of German troops in Afghanistan from its current level of 4,500. He argued that instead, Germany should redouble its efforts to train the Afghan police, although he declined to indicate how that should be done. (…)
While Westerwelle’s team have tried to paint Guttenberg as a warmonger when it comes to the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry has been fond of pointing out, and laughing at, the new foreign minister’s inexperience in the issue. (…)
As so often, Merkel has given little indication as to which way she is leaning, preferring instead to let her ministers battle it out. But time is no longer on her side. The US announcement this week that it intends to send 2,500 soldiers of its own into German-controlled northern Afghanistan ups the pressure on Merkel. Furthermore, US special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke wondered in an interview with the influential weekly Die Zeit whether Germany would honor the West’s common interest in bringing the Afghanistan engagement to a successful conclusion.
In order to ensure that Germany doesn’t head to London empty handed, Berlin is currently working on putting together a compromise offer, according to government sources. The package is said to include a modest troop increase of not more than 1,000 soldiers, many of them earmarked to help train Afghan forces. In addition, more police trainers are to be sent and Berlin will make more development money available.
UK foreign minister David Miliband gives a look-ahead to the Afghanistan conference on 28 January in a video: here.
Brothers in arms. In the Washington Post, Carl Bildt and Anders Fogh Rasmussen defend the EU’s contribution to the effort in Afghanistan:
It is important that America recognize its partners’ actions at this critical time, because if it becomes the conventional wisdom in the United States to talk down the European contribution, no matter what Europe does, then it will become impossible to sustain our commitment.
In just the past few months, the European Union has taken important steps to strengthen its common action in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the surrounding region. For the first time, the European Union has adopted a common action plan for the efforts of its 27 member states and the European Commission. The focus is on building strong state institutions because the best way to defeat the insurgency is to help Afghanistan build a government in which its citizens trust and believe. With the aim of increasing Afghan responsibilities, and in accordance with the priorities set by the government in Kabul, the European Union will concentrate its immediate assistance in six areas: building civilian capacity; strengthening sub-national, or provincial, governance; election review and reform; mechanisms to support the reintegration of former insurgents into society; economic development; and strengthened assistance in building a civilian police force through the E.U. Police Mission in Afghanistan. (…)
Europe, and Canada, will continue to be America’s allies, partners and brothers in arms.
The EU’s performance in Copenhagen. In the European Voice, Jennifer Rankin claims that “the charge that the EU was sidelined in Copenhagen is unfair”. She spoke to EU officials who
contest the significance of a meeting between the US, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, which is fabled as the meeting where the deal was done, without European involvement. The final document was, said one senior Commission official, “not put together by five, it was put together by more than 30”. The meeting of the five gained disproportionate significance “as a matter of American publicity,” says another EU source, who described it as “just one meeting among many held by all sides, including EU representatives”. EU sources emphasise that US President Barack Obama spoke to European leaders before and after this meeting. The meeting of the five was important for the US to get concessions from China on the transparency of its emissions pledges, but its significance has been exaggerated: it did not tie up the whole deal.
But Rankin admits that
the hard truth is that European countries and the EU were powerless to get more ambitious targets to reduce emissions. The EU’s ‘lead-by-example’ policy led nowhere, suggesting that the EU needs to recalibrate its climate diplomacy, perhaps putting less emphasis on the US, and more on countries such as Australia and Japan with similar commitments to the EU.
In any case, the EU’s climate policy must get “back to the drawing board”, Rankin says in a second article.
A discussion about climate-change strategy will be on the agenda of the meeting of EU leaders on 11 February, Council president Herman Van Rompuy has announced, saying that the EU needs to find a way “to translate the EU’s ambitious climate change goals in global negotiating power”.
Quote of the day. Is Israel seriously planning to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran? An insider told the Economist that “those who know will not speak; and those who speak do not know.”
Read today on Global Europe. Oil dispute: Russia reminds Belarus that independence comes at a price, by Roderick Kefferpütz, a Brussels-based political advisor specializing in Eurasian political and energy affairs.
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