The Front Lines: Germany's Difficult Year in Africa and Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-military-faces-a-difficult-year-in-africa-and-afghanistan-a-944553.html



It won't be an easy year for new Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. The German military is facing a new mission in Africa while at the same time orchestrating a challenging withdrawal from war-torn Afghanistan. Potential pitfalls are numerous.

The Front Lines: Germany's Difficult Year in Africa and Afghanistan
By Matthias Gebauer, Gordon Repinski and Christoph Schult
January 21, 2014 – 04:02 PM

As the military band assembled for practice on the Berlin parade grounds, Ursula von der Leyen got a first taste of the difficulties awaiting her as Germany's new defense minister. As per her request, four-star General Hans-Lothar Domröse had come to her office to provide a thorough briefing earlier this month -- just a few hours before German armed forces were to bid a ceremonial farewell to her predecessor, Thomas de Maiziere.

Domröse, the highest-ranking German NATO officer, didn't have much good news for the new minister. The situation in Afghanistan, he said, was tense three months before the presidential election in April. He also voiced his concern about the withdrawal of German troops because it remains unclear whether the Bundeswehr, the German military, will contribute up to 800 soldiers to a planned training mission in Afghanistan starting in 2015 after the withdrawal has been completed. First, US President Barack Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai must come to an agreement on the ensuing mission -- and such an agreement is nowhere in sight.

Domröse warned the minister that every passing day without a decision makes it harder for NATO to plan the mission. And if no troop agreement is reached with Kabul, the Bundeswehr will have to make a complete withdrawal.

Von der Leyen is likely to have been concerned by what the highly respected Domröse had to tell her. She's the star of the conservative Christian Democratic Union and tipped as a possible successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel -- but von der Leyen will be measured by her handling of the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan. The former family affairs and labor minister needs to show that her skills extend beyond family and social policy.




unhappycamper question: What is the NATO 'mission'?

[bemildred]

1. A "challenging withdrawal" eh?

The challenge being to leave some troops there and not withdraw completely.