The parliamentary inquiry commission established by the Bundestag to investigate the Afghanistan deployment presents in its final report a massive strategic failure at the Hindukush. “A drastic improvement of German crisis management is urgently needed”the report says, as reported by the “Spiegel”.
Even in an interim report, it was already noted that goals were set too high and a suitable strategy was lacking – and that for 20 years. The commission, despite mentioning some partial successes, such as in education, harshly criticizes the mission, from which 60 Bundeswehr soldiers did not return alive.
The 72 recommendations for future aid missions, from crisis recognition to anti-corruption efforts, also sound drastic. Military, police and diplomacy must work much better together. “Future engagements require a clearly formulated strategy that names clear, verifiable and realistic goals”the report says. It also needs an exit strategy.
“Engagements should be accompanied by clear communication from the federal government”the commission says. “International crisis management should be communicated in a realistic, unvarnished and credible manner, from the strategic to the implementation level.”
One proposal is a new cabinet committee or a similar, cross-ministerial body, although there was already one at the state secretary level in the case of Afghanistan. The Bundestag will soon debate the report and the results of a parallel investigation committee.