Reuters
On Friday, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karenbauer affirmed her country’s commitment to the peace process in Afghanistan.
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This came during Kramp Karenbauer on an unannounced visit to Mazar-e-Sharif, where the majority of German forces are deployed in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan urgently needs a settlement between the competing groups in its society,” the minister said in a statement, adding that Berlin’s goal remains an orderly withdrawal of forces.
On Wednesday, the German government gave the green light to extend the military mission in Afghanistan until next January, a move that has yet to be approved by Parliament.
The current parliamentary mandate for the German operation, which includes about 1,300 soldiers, ends at the end of March, while the new US government reviews an agreement concluded in 2020 with the “Taliban” movement that called for the withdrawal of foreign forces by the first of May.
Kramp Karenbauer warned that the early withdrawal of NATO forces could endanger peace talks between the Afghan government and the “Taliban”, and said that the alliance forces must prepare for violence by the “Taliban” if it continues after April.
Source: “Reuters”
