JAKARTA - Germany's defense minister on Monday rejected calls for his troops to return to Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents seized the city of Kunduz.
Not without reason if the Germans were asked to return to the city. Because, for a decade in Afghanistan, the German military was stationed in the city.
Also in Kunduz, Germany, which has the second largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, has lost more soldiers in combat than any other military contingent since the end of the Second World War.
Taliban militants overran three provincial capitals, including Kunduz, hitting Afghan military forces over the weekend, as the military campaign intensifies as the withdrawal of the US-led international coalition forces is due to be completed in September.
"Reports from Kunduz and from across Afghanistan are bittersweet and hurtful," Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Twitter.
"Are the public and parliament ready to send the armed forces into war and remain there with lots of troops for at least a generation? If not, then a joint withdrawal with partners remains the right decision," he continued.
Some in the Conservative Party, which supports him, want the German military to continue to participate in the intervention against the Taliban. However, Kramp-Karrenbauer says it will be a long and difficult struggle to defeat the Taliban.
Since the United States announced a planned withdrawal of international coalition troops in April, which is scheduled to be completed by September, armed violence by the Taliban has increased, followed by the seizure of strategic cities.
Secretary Kramp-Karrenbauer blamed former United States President Donald Trump for undermining the Afghan operation, even though his successor President Joe Biden implemented a withdrawal policy.
"The unfortunate deal between Trump and the Taliban is the beginning of the end," he said of the deal Donald Trump made with the Taliban militants in 2020.
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