Saturday November 28, 2015
Kabul (BNA) German Defense minister, Ursula Woon has said that his country would continue cooperating with Afghanistan, through troop presence in the north, by 2016.
At the Berlin meeting, his country wanted to support, train and advise the Afghan troops in the north, where Germany was leading the NATO mission. The German cabinet has already endorsed a draft, under which the troops’ number should be increased from 850 to 980, but was not intended to change its mission from training, supporting and advising process and redeploy the German troops in war, something ended in 2014. Some German social democrats of the leading party considering the Afghanistan status quo, asked for extension the country’s troops mission in Afghanistan. Some Afghan house members and political experts lauded the German’s recent decision and called it a measure would essentially be in Afghanistan interest and an assurance that the international community was not on to leave Afghanistan alone. “US and Germany are the world great powers and can do enough for Afghanistan in war on terror and support the Afghan forces against the increasing threats of terrorists’ networks,” said Mohammad Hashem who warned there were still threats against peace and stability of the country.
According to him, the people of Afghanistan needed peace and security restored in the country, where there is a need for sustainable support of the international community, and the NATO led mission in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan needs long term international support and the Germany’s commitment to provide support for the Afghan forces would be laudable and the national unity government should use the opportunity properly, said Ali Rahmani, a political expert. “The Germany’s long-term support to Afghanistan would guarantee a stable future for the country’s north.”
Undoubtedly, any support from the great powers, particularly Germany would be significant and would be effective in the fresh season of war for the Afghan government to go ahead with a firm plan against terrorism and uproot their hideouts and training centers. He said the international community should prioritize their plan in war against terrorism, as they believe they will not only be a threat to Afghanistan, but to the region and the world. A civil society member, Safia Hamnawa believed the NATO forces’ continued mission including training and supporting would help the Afghan forces get success in war on terror as well as defending the country. Afghan citizens are also looked pleased over what they said a proper and helpful plan from Germany, which recently wanted to continue training and supporting the Afghan forces, as Tareq, a Kabul school teacher said nothing tangible had been witnessed for a positive change in the country’s security and stability, since the last13 years of the post-Taliban regime. He praised the German’s plan to continue providing cooperation with the Afghan forces, particularly in the north by the 2016, under the NATO’s resolute mission for Afghanistan. Suraya Raiszada
