An Overview of Relations between Afghanistan and Germany

Transcrição

Journal of European Studies
An Overview of Relations between Afghanistan
and Germany
Islam Shah
There are multiple factors which have brought Germany and
Afghanistan close to each other. This closeness began when the
diplomatic mission headed by Oskar von Niedermayer arrived in
Kabul in 1914. At that time Amir Habibullah Khan was king of
Afghanistan.1
Germany had been trying to persuade the Afghans before and
during the two world wars to fight against Russia and British India
in the name of “Jihad”. Germany had therefore sent various
diplomatic missions to Kabul to convince the Afghan Government
to convert to the German cause.2
Since the nineteenth century the British Raj in India considered
Afghanistan as a buffer between its empire in India and the czarist
Russian empire. This competition for control of Afghanistan
between Russia and Britain is known in history as the ‘Great
Game’.
After the third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919, the fourth period in
modern Afghan history began. Afghanistan abandoned its policy of
strict isolationism and moved towards defensive neutralism. Amir
Amanullah (1919-29) terminated the alliance with Britain because
it had reduced Afghanistan to the position of a vassal, which the
burgeoning spirit of nationalism in the populace was no longer
willing to tolerate. However, Afghanistan understood very well
1
2
Nasrullah Nasir, Afghanistan ao Narai, Pashto translation (Kabul: Afghan
Foreign Ministry Centre of Strategic Studies, 2004).
Y. M. Tekhonove, The Afghan War of German Reich, translated in Pashto by
M. Tahir Kanni, Da Germany Impratori Afghani Jagra (Jalalabad: Da
Afghanistan da Culturi vade Tolana-Germany, 2004).
107
that because of its strategic location it would always remain
vulnerable to outside intervention. It thus encouraged Germany to
assume the role of a “third force” against the USSR and Britain.
German-Afghan relations were therefore a result of political
expediency. As for Germany, it was seeking allies for an invasion
of British India during the First World War. Later, German
interests were largely economic, until they again became political
during the Second World War. Afghanistan also hoped to enlist
Germany as a major partner in its ambition to gain strength and
power through a comprehensive modernization programme.3
During the cold war, both the Federal Republic of Germany and
the German Democratic Republic maintained economic and
political relations with Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, the Federal Republic of
Germany as a Western ally gave considerable assistance for the
sustenance of the more than three million Afghan refugees in
Pakistan and also contributed financially to the Afghan resistance
against the Soviet invaders.
Why Germany? - That was the question in most people’s minds
when the conference on Afghanistan’s future was held in Germany
in the wake of the US-led attack to oust the Taliban in late 2001.
Apart from the obvious explanation that Germany unlike France or
Britain has been more circumspect in its statements on political
issues, there were other reasons for choosing Germany as the
venue of this conference. Firstly, Germany had never invaded
Afghanistan. The country was just too far away and the Germans
during the Second World War considered the conquest of Europe
as crucial to their strategic aims. Since Germany had no colonial
past in this region, it’s no wonder that the Afghans looked upon
Germany as a benevolent country. Besides, as pointed out earlier,
Germany was a close ally of Afghanistan during and after the
3
Ludwig W. Adamec, Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth
Century: Relations with the USSR, Germany, and Britain (Tucson: University
of Arizona Press, 1974).
108
world wars, and supported the country against British designs. The
“Great Game” of the nineteenth century, involving imperial Russia
and imperial Britain was testimony to British ambitions in
Afghanistan.
As far back as the Berlin conference in 1878, Germany’s Iron
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck made moves which spoiled
relations between Afghanistan and England. Afghan King, Amir
Abdul Rahman looked up to Bismarck, the unifier of Germany, as
a role model. The King earnestly tried to unite the disparate racial
and religious groups of Afghanistan. He felt great pride when he
began to be called the "Bismarck of Afghanistan"! But the most
interesting phase of German-Afghan relations began when Sultan
Amanullah arrived in Berlin in the 1920s on a state visit. This was
the time, when the First World War had just ended and Germany
was being treated as a pariah nation. The Afghan King just did not
seem to care about Germany’s awkward position in Europe. He
rode around with German President Paul von Hindenburg in a
convertible in Berlin. Ties between the two countries became
stronger with the visit of King Amanullah to Germany, because
Afghanistan after gaining full independence from Britain in 1919,
launched an independent foreign policy and wanted to maintain it.
Germany could play the part of extra regional power – a
counterweight to the two Great Powers – Britain and the USSR.
During this state visit political, economic, educational and trade
ties were consolidated. The dashing Sultan was a most exotic
figure for the generally austere Germans. A German lyricist
inspired by the dark-skinned foreigner and his country of barren
mountains scribbled a "Schlager", a popular German carnival song
about him which was a hit. Even today at every carnival in
Germany revelers sing at the top of their voices, “Die Karawane
zieht weiter...Dä Sultan hat Doosch". Loosely translated it means
"the caravan rolls ahead, the Sultan is thirsty". The BVG (Berlin
public transport) was also impressed by the Sultan. They promptly
named a subway train that he rode on after him! Apart from his
charm and charisma, Sultan Amanullah was a progressive leader.
109
He genuinely wanted to reform and modernize his country. The
immense strides by the Germans in industrialization and the
sciences made quite an impression on him.4
Amanullah was particularly keen to further develop the “special
relationship” between Germany and Afghanistan, and it became
part of the Afghan ruler’s strategy to secure his country’s political
and economic independence by playing off Afghanistan’s
neighbours (Russia and Britain) against one another. Germany
would act as the “third force” in the power play in South Asia and
Central Asia.5*
The German-Afghan Group was formed in 1923. Civil engineers
began coming to Afghanistan for construction work in 1924.
Germany established the Amania High School in Kabul in 1924. In
the same year the Treaty of Friendship between the two countries
was signed. Sultan Ghazi* Amanullah Khan invited specialists and
experts from Germany to work in Afghanistan in various fields.
Several German experts worked on development projects not just
in Kabul, but also in Kandahar and other Afghan towns. With
Amanullah’s exit from power, the German affection for
Afghanistan lost some of its warmth. After the free trade
declaration in 1930 in the Nadir Shah era, employees of the famous
engineering firm Seimens came to Kabul and experts in other
fields also visited from time to time. Germany allowed the opening
of a branch of the Afghan Milli Bank in Germany.6
Between Afghanistan and the right bank of the river Indus is an
area (presently Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) which at
4
“The German Afghan Connection” Deutsche Welle available from
http://www.deutsche-welle.com/dw/article/0,,336834_page_2,00.html.
5
Ludwig W. Adamec, Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth
Century.
* Ghazi in Arabic means a Muslim war veteran, or one who has returned home
safely after winning a war.
6 Nasrullah Nasir, Afghanistan ao Narai.
*
110
that time was a well-known venue for hatching plots and
insurgencies. History is witness to the fact that British authorities
in India were unable to rule or even fully control this Pakhtoon
dominated area. Discerning the opportunities in the situation,
Germany had been trying to exploit the area for promoting its own
interests. Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted to aid and abet the uprisings in
Central Asia and British India, and to plan an attack on India.
Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany’s leader followed the same policy.
Several plots were being hatched in Berlin to destabilize the Soviet
Union and Britain. In 1939, Hitler voiced the expectation that
permission would be given to German forces to be deployed in
Central Asia. Encouraged by King Amanullah, the Central Powers
– Germany, Italy and Japan were already engaged in building
infrastructure in Afghanistan since the 1920s. The German air
service was operating between Berlin and Kabul, and this gave a
chance to German spy agencies to take pictures of the Afghan
areas bordering the USSR and British India. It is said that Nazi
Germany’s plan was that after invading the USSR and Russian
Turkestan, the Pakhtoon tribal belt located on both sides of the
Durand Line would be invaded and occupied. German strategic
experts in Berlin calculated that after quickly defeating the USSR,
they would be able to get control of these areas easily. So it is
strange why the German mission did not implement their plan in
northern Afghanistan, and instigate an insurgency against Moscow
in Central Asia; for a small contingent of German forces could
have made possible, what could not be achieved by thousands of
Basmachis*. Germany’s main target was British India, where six
hundred thousand (600,000) British forces were in readiness to
push back a German attack. In the mountainous tribal areas, Faqir
Epi and his band had been giving the British forces a tough fight.
The British wanted control of this area for strategic reasons. Berlin
sent its airplanes to Waziristan to drop ammunition for the
Pashtoon insurgents. German airplanes had been taking off from
*
The Basmachi revolt was an uprising against the Czarist imperial rule and later
the Soviet Union by the Muslim, mostly Turkic people of Central Asia.
111
northern Caucasus.6 British forces suffered big losses of life at the
hands of the insurgents.
By 1935 infrastructure development began to focus on the military,
for another world war now appeared imminent. Kabul which had
begun to look towards Germany for its economic and military
modernization, was not disappointed. Germany supplied the
country with weapons and assumed the role of ally as well as
protector. Afghanistan considered Germany as a useful and reliable
counterweight to the Soviet Union and British India. Cooperation
in other fields besides the war-related one also took place between
the two countries. In 1936, the Afghan hockey team and Afghan
officials were special guests at the Berlin Olympics, which had
turned controversial owing to the Nazi regime’s actions. The
Afghan team like other foreign teams were showered with
attention, for the Nazis tried hard to make the summer Olympics a
showcase for the "New Germany". Many Afghan soldiers were
sent to Germany to get training from German officers. The
objective was to train and equip Afghan armed forces to enable
them to match western standards. For the first time, a weekly air
service was established between Kabul and Berlin. Plans and
supervision for major infrastructure projects in Afghanistan such as
roads, bridges, airfields, and industrial plants were provided by the
Nazi government and its organizational set up.7
In Hitler’s strategic plans, Afghanistan had a significant place, for
it would provide the much needed foothold to conquer India and
the South East Asian countries. Nazi agents arrived in Afghanistan
for disbursing economic assistance and advising the government.
They particularly gained influence in the tribal areas across the
Durand Line. The tribal elders were offered the lands of British
India by the Germans, on condition that they rebelled against
Britain. The Germans, besides aiming to destabilize the British
Indian empire, wanted to use Afghan soil as a base camp against
6
7
M. Tahir Kanni, Da Germany Impratori Afghani Jagra.
Nasrullah Nasir, Afghanistan ao Narai.
112
the USSR. In his diary, the German Chief of General Staff Franz
Helder noted that Hitler had ordered that Afghanistan must be
included in the strategy to be finalized.8 However, during the
Second World War, officially Afghanistan professed a non-aligned
policy and German diplomats and other experts left Afghanistan.
This was probably owing to Afghanistan’s peculiar position as a
next door neighbour of British India, which was at war with
Germany.
While cordial relations between FRG and Afghanistan were
renewed after the war ended, relations were also established
between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and
Afghanistan.
Kabul established diplomatic ties with the Federal Republic in
1954. These relations were upgraded to ambassadorial level in
1958. An agreement was signed between the two sides on
exchange of goods and payments as well as one on economic and
technical cooperation. This led to the strengthening of relations.
The FRG supported various projects in Afghanistan’s first
development plan of 1956-62. West Germany actively assisted the
relevant Afghan ministries in the fields of mining and industry.
The FRG’s help was also sought in other projects such as the
establishment of a power station and cables for power installation
between Kabul and Spinboldak (near Kandahar), and the structure
of a telephone network in the capital. Also, Afghans were sent to
FRG for training and German instructors came to the University of
Kabul and technical schools in the country. It is noteworthy that no
other country in the sixties benefited from German development
assistance as much as Afghanistan. Large-scale industrial projects
were launched for promoting industrialization in Afghanistan. In
the forefront was Siemens which established the first
pharmaceutical factory in the country. During the Second Five
Year Plan 1962-67 Germany earmarked more financial support for
8
Ahmed Hasan, Afghanistan Haqaiq Ki Roshni Main, Translation (Karachi:
Awami Adab Publications).
113
Afghanistan. This was apparently an attempt to draw the country
into the western camp in the on-going cold war. In July 1961,
Prime Minister Daud visited the FRG. This was the first official
visit to West Germany of an Afghan head of government.
Afghanistan which had palpable pro-Soviet leanings, on the
induction of Prime Minister Muhammad Yusuf Khan from 1963
onwards showed a bias in favour of the West. Yusuf even talked of
an association of Afghanistan with the European Economic
Community (EEC) and better relations with Iran and Pakistan,
which were the West’s close allies in the region. Afghanistan at
this time adopted policies for promoting private capital and also
made conscious efforts to create a more favourable investment
climate for foreign industrialists. The FRG expressed eagerness to
assist Afghanistan in all aspects of public life. It extended loans
amounting to 260 million DM to Afghanistan between 1962-67.
Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Zahir paid an official visit to the Federal
Republic of Germany on the invitation of Chancellor Willy Brandt
in September 1972. Afghan Home Minister Nematullah Pazhwok
also visited the Federal Republic of Germany in May 1973.9
In 1976, an expatriate German community in Kabul feeling
nostalgic about their homeland, set up a German club, and
gradually a "mini Germany" was created in the Afghan capital.
Some Germans, most likely fed up with a daily menu of ‘Nan’ and
‘Kebab’, trained their Afghan cooks to make well-done pepper
steak and sauerkraut, typical German cuisine. Two German schools
and a bakery were also set up. The Goethe Institut for teaching
German language and culture was established in Kabul. It was
instrumental in bringing Germany closer to the people of the city.
Even before the US-led war in Afghanistan, which began in
October 2001, several German non-governmental organizations
were giving support to small development and humanitarian
projects in Afghanistan. One such example was the province of
Paktia in the south of Kabul that owed its development to a
German master plan.
9
114
Mostly owing to the circumstances prevalent in Afghanistan since
the late seventies, Germany has become a second home to almost
100,000 people of Afghan origin. Afghans are part of the
multicultural face of Germany. They have established around a
dozen organizations and clubs of all sorts, that deal with matters
ranging from women’s empowerment to cooperation with German
doctors in the field of medicine. A German-Afghan website also
exists, which reports and updates events taking place in
Afghanistan.10
Ties between the two countries had been frozen after the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but various organizations were
formed in the Federal Republic of Germany in the aftermath of the
Soviet invasion to support those resisting occupation, or those
displaced by the event.
The Federal Republic of Germany withheld recognition to the
Communist coup d’etat in April 1978 and the government set up as
a result, as well as the subsequent Soviet occupation of
Afghanistan. Bonn fully supported the Afghan Jihad for freedom.
The German government often invited leaders of the various
Mujahideen factions to visit Germany. Thus while the Soviets
remained in Afghanistan, the Mujahideen leaders Burhanuddin
Rabbani (leader of Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan) visited Germany
(FRG) thrice and met with the leaders of Christian Socialist Party;
Moulvi Muhammad Younus Khalis also went three times to
Germany and met the leaders of the Social Democratic Party and
government officials; Sibghatullah Mujaddidi paid two visits to
West Germany and addressed the German Parliament on his
second visit; Gulbadin Hikmatyar went to the Federal Republic
twice and met the German Foreign Minister and Willy Brandt, the
head of the Social Democrat Party; Pir Sayyed Ahmed Gilani
visited West Germany three times and held meetings with many
high ranking German politicians. He also spoke to the German
10
“The German Afghan Connection”, Deutsche Welle online.
115
parliament.11
The German Embassy in Kabul ceased operations in 1979. In early
December 2001 a German liaison office began operating in the
Afghan capital. A German Ambassador presented his credentials to
the Afghan Interim Administration in January 2002, after the
ouster of the Taliban. The German diplomatic mission maintains
close contacts with the government in Kabul and has been assigned
the task of supervising German humanitarian aid and
reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. In accordance with the
October 2003 decision of the German parliament, Berlin has
stepped up its engagement in the country and set up two field
offices of its embassy in the Afghan provinces of Kunduz and
Herat. In November 2003, Germany created a Provincial
Reconstruction Team (PRT) with a military component in the
Kunduz region. This was done under the mandate of the
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Now a large
number of German soldiers and representatives of the Federal
Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development are
operating under ISAF. The objective is to speed up regional
reconstruction, promote political stability and strengthen the
government in Kabul. Since October 2004, Germany has been
heading another PRT in Faizabad in Badakhshan Province.
It is noteworthy that Germany had maintained diplomatic relations
with Afghanistan during 1989–2001, but not with the Taliban
regime. The German government liaised with the Government of
the Islamic State of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance), which also
represented the country in the United Nations. The Interim/
Transitional Administration which was installed in December 2001
was represented by an ambassador in Berlin by the end of August
2002. During the Afghan civil war that broke out after the Soviet
troops vacated the country, Germany was in dialogue with all the
protagonists and firmly supported the United Nation's efforts to
11
116
resolve the conflict. From 1994 onwards, Berlin made it a point to
draft the annual General Assembly resolutions on the political and
humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. The UN mission in
Afghanistan, UNAMA, was headed by a member of the German
Federal Foreign Office, Dr. Holl. The latter was Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General from July 1996 to the
end of 1997. UN Resolution 55/243, which condemned the
destruction by the Taliban of the Afghan cultural heritage,
particularly the Buddhist monuments in Bamiyan was tabled by
Germany and adopted by the UN General Assembly with the
support of a large majority of its members.
After the US-led coalition’s attack on Afghanistan and the
subsequent fall of the Taliban regime, the UN Talks on
Afghanistan were hosted by the German government at its
Petersberg guest house (near Bonn) from November 27 to
December 5, 2001. The negotiations in Petersberg, led to an
agreement on December 5 for the formation of an interim
government. At this meeting, the members of the Interim
Administration were also chosen. A parallel conference was held
in Bad Honnef (also near Bonn). At this moot an attempt was made
to forge the Afghan civil society's vision of the country's political
future. In December 2002, another conference was held at
Petersberg, focused on rebuilding Afghanistan and establishing
peace and stability in the country. At the Berlin conference, the
international community reiterated its future commitment to
Afghanistan. Sixty-five delegations from different countries met in
Berlin for discussions with the Afghan government regarding the
political and economic setup of the country. The final
communiqué, known as the Berlin Declaration, outlined the vision
for post-conflict Afghanistan. Germany as an important member of
the international community pledged euro 320 million for the
period 2005-2008. A conference on regional police cooperation
was held in Doha, Qatar on May 18-19, 2004 attended by
Afghanistan’s neighbours and many donor countries. The moot
was co-chaired by Germany, Afghanistan and the UN. The aim
117
was to improve cross-border police cooperation. Germany has
played a leading role in rebuilding the police force as part of
international support for reforming the Afghan security sector. A
sequel conference was held at Doha in November 2005.
Owing to its role in World War II, Germany has always been wary
of military involvement in any part of the world. It has been
avoiding any actions that would expose it to allegations of
aggressiveness. However, in a departure from this policy on
December 22, 2001, the German parliament passed a motion with a
large majority which allowed German forces to join in the
implementation of Resolution 1386 of the UN Security Council.
An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was dispatched
to the Kabul region. From February to August 2003, ISAF was
jointly led by Germany and the Netherlands, when NATO took
over this task with different nations leading its forces. Germany
contributes troops to ISAF, which are deployed at ISAF
headquarters, in the Kabul Multinational Brigade, at Kabul
International Airport and at the Forward Support Base in Termez
(Uzbekistan). In Afghanistan’s northeastern provinces of Kunduz
and Faizabad, Germany guarantees security and provides
assistance for urgently needed reconstruction through its two
Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT). In Kunduz it has had a
presence since November 2003 and in Faizabad since September
2004. When ISAF took over responsibility for the west of the
country, some German troops were redeployed from Kabul to the
north west in June 2006. ISAF’s mandate is extended by twelve
months every year under the UN Security Council Resolution 1510
of October 13, 2003. The requisite approval of German
participation is also given every twelve months by the German
parliament. The continuing precariousness of the security situation
in the country and the need for economic and political reform
make it necessary that international financial support and the
stationing of foreign troops continue for the time being.
The top priorities for German reconstruction efforts cited by Berlin
118
are as follows: the re-establishment of educational institutions,
rebuilding of administrative infrastructure, the inclusion of women
and girls in creating a genuine Afghan civil society and renewal of
political institutions. As regards bilateral development cooperation
between Germany and Afghanistan the priorities are: setting up a
proper framework for developing the private sector and market
mechanisms, refurbishing the power sector with focus on
renewable energy and the reconstruction of urban drinking water
facilities. Besides, Germany provided special funds for training
primary teachers for the period 2005 - 2007. At the donors’
conference held in Tokyo in January 2002, the German
government promised to provide reconstruction assistance
amounting to euro 320 million to Afghanistan over a period of four
years. These funds were fully disbursed by the end of 2004. At the
Berlin conference in March 2004, Germany made a commitment to
provide another euro 80 million per year for 2005 – 2008. This
commitment was extended for another two years at the London
conference held in January 2006. Germany has thus contributed
some 650 million euro for humanitarian assistance and
reconstruction of the country.12
Germany adopted a leading role in revamping the Afghan police at
the request of the Afghan government and the United Nations.
Besides coordinating funds from other international partners,
Germany also advises the Afghan Interior Ministry on increasing
the capacities of the police. It supports specific projects in the
field. The German project office in Kabul helps out in recruiting,
training and equipping Afghan police officers and renovating and
constructing the police buildings. It coordinates international
participation in these fields. The German role in revamping the
security sector has been coordinated at the political level since
autumn 2003 by a German official with the rank of ambassador. In
August 2002, the Police Academy in Kabul, rebuilt by the Federal
12
German Embassy Kabul, “Development Cooperation between Germany and
Afghanistan”, available from http://www.kabul.diplo.de/vertretung/kabul/
en/05/.
119
Agency for Technical Relief was inaugurated. It imparted training
to some 1,600 police recruits and at the beginning of 2004, 2,624
graduates were ready for duty. In agreement with the German
project office, the US has taken over the responsibility of training
the lower civil service grades.
There has also been considerable progress in developing an antidrugs unit, an anti-crime squad, a police health system and the
traffic police in Kabul. To improve the public image of the police
and to impart a professional code of conduct to police cadets,
training courses pay special attention to instruction in basic human
rights. Women have also been inducted in the Academy for police
service. The incremental implementation of these reforms is
coordinated by the Federal Foreign Office with the cooperation of
the German Ministry of Interior. For the period 2002-2003, the
German financial contribution in this sector amounted to euro 33
million. Another euro 48 million were earmarked for the period
2004-2007. Besides the ongoing development of police training,
German commitments in this period focused on consolidating the
work in the restored central institutions in Kabul, improving their
networking and communications and supplying police in the 34
provinces with vehicles and equipment. A very urgent task in the
security sector is the revamping of the border police and closely
connected with this is training and equipping an effective force for
anti-drug operations. Since 2004, German police officers have
been sent to Afghanistan on assignment. Some of them have been
stationed at the German embassy's field offices in Kunduz and
Herat, to help rebuild the Afghan police in these provinces.
Likewise, since March 2005, two German police officials have
been working as advisers at the field office in Faizabad.
Special attention has been given to the resumption of AfghanGerman cultural relations and in this regard the well-established
network of dedicated Germans and Afghans is of great help. The
traditional cooperation between universities and cultural
institutions has been revived. With a yearly donation of several
120
million euros (euro 18.9 million in 2010), Germany is playing an
important role in the revival of culture in war battered Afghanistan.
These funds are earmarked for projects such as the reopening of
schools, including the Amani Secondary School founded in 1924
and the rebuilding of Afghan universities. The German-Afghan
academic twinning arrangements are active in this regard. The
Goethe Institut and the German Academic Exchange Service
(DAAD) have opened offices in Kabul. The Goethe Institut is
engaged in imparting knowledge of German language and inservice training for teachers, besides contributing to cultural
cooperation in the realms of theatre, film and photography. In
addition, the German Foreign Office has sponsored the restoration
of cultural institutions and historical monuments in Kabul,
Bamiyan and Herat. It also supports efforts to rebuild the sports
sector, particularly football. Most active in the media sector is
Deutsche Welle, which every day gives a two-hour news slot in
Dari and Pashto to the Afghan national broadcasting corporation. It
has also given training and technical assistance to Afghan
broadcasters.13
Conclusion
We can conclude from the preceding paras that Afghan-German
relations have a long and positive history, going back to the
beginning of the 20th century. This is probably a major reason why
Afghanistan is given priority in Germany’s development
cooperation programmes and why the German government is
willingly playing a leading role in the country’s reconstruction.
This German involvement has to be maintained for several years
down the road so as to safeguard democracy which is in the stage
of infancy in Afghanistan. Despite its sensitivity regarding military
involvement abroad, Germany probably agreed to contribute troops
to ISAF, to help establish peace and political stability, without
13
Federal Foreign Office, “Afghanistan”, March 2011, available from
http://www.auswaertigesamt.de/EN/Aussenpolitik/Laender/Laenderinfes/01Nodes/Afghanistan_node.html.
121
which there can be no democracy.14
Germany has its own stance on Afghanistan. It has fully renewed
its commitment to the ongoing reconstruction of Afghanistan, and
has assured the Afghan government of its continuing cooperation.
Berlin has initiated reconstruction and is supporting and
coordinating the training and equipping of Afghans in various
fields.15 These are positive moves for peace in Afghanistan and
also the larger region.
14
Visit at http://www.bmz.de/en/countries/partnercountries/afghanistan/index.
html.
15
M. Tahir Kanni, Da Germany Impratori Afghani Jagra.
122

An Overview of Relations between Afghanistan and Germany

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