BERLIN/KABUL (Own report) – Nearly 15 years ago, NATO launched its war on Afghanistan. Under the occupation – with Germany playing a significant role – the economic and social conditions of the country are disastrous and the security situation, desolate. Since 2001, more than 220,000 people have been killed in the war, either as direct victims of combat or indirectly, according to a comprehensive analysis. The security situation in the country has “dramatically deteriorated,” affirms the German Bundestag’s Defense Commissioner. Today, soldiers must be flown by helicopter from one base to another, because use of the roads is too dangerous, even for armored vehicles. According to the United Nations, the number of refugees has reached 1.1 million, tendency rising. Opium cultivation is still Afghanistan’s largest economic sector. By national standards, 39.1 percent of the Afghans are living below the poverty line; 2.7 million are undernourished. The Bundeswehr, however, detects a positive development and recommends “patience and endurance.” (This is part 2 of a german-foreign-policy.com series, reporting on consequences of German military interventions over the past two decades, in light of the German government’s announcement of plans to increase its “global” – including military – interventions.)
Supporting Insurgency
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Fighting Insurgency
By the 1990s, the Federal Republic of Germany was no longer interested in Afghanistan. For the NATO countries, Afghanistan lost its strategic importance, once Soviet troops had withdrawn and the pro-Moscow government had collapsed. The deplorable conditions left throughout the country helped facilitate the Taliban’s takeover. For many Afghans, the Taliban’s reign seemed a less brutal alternative to that of the Mujahidin. Only after September 11, 2001, was German interest in Afghanistan rekindled, when that country returned into the focus of western powers, because of the murderous terror by a jihadist group now calling itself “al Qaeda” – the same jihadists NATO countries collaborated with in the 1980s against Soviet troops.[2] Berlin again participated quite conspicuously, not only in the occupation of the country, but also in the efforts to firmly bind Afghanistan to the West. This is why Germany had organized in Bonn in late 2001, the international “Petersberg Conference” and succeeding it, the following year, with the Afghan Loya Jirga (“Grand Assembly”) in Kabul. However, no extensive initiatives on the part of the occupation forces have appeased the growing anger in the country, which, only a few years later, had led to a fierce insurgency against western troops. Afghanistan has been engulfed by a war of occupation.
War of Attrition
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Hunger and Poverty
Afghanistan’s socio-economic situation is at least as devastating. The country’s economy is in tatters; financially, the country is highly dependent on foreign aid. There is hardly any independent production. In 2014, Afghanistan’s imports amounted to US $7.7 billion, while its exports a mere $571 million. Because of the catastrophic situation, foreign companies are showing little interest. A total of US $54 million in investments were registered in all of 2014. “More than four-fifths of the economy takes place in the context of political insecurity and a lack of rule of law in the informal sector,” reported the foreign business agency Germany Trade and Invest (gtai), last year, in which “the cultivation of opium poppy for opium and heroin” is by far the “most important factor of the Afghan parallel economy.”[7] According to statistics provided by the Asian Development Bank, 39.1 percent of all Afghans live below the official poverty line. Currently 2.7 of the 30 million Afghans are undernourished, including a million children less than 5 years of age. In Afghanistan, the child mortality rate during the first year of life is at 66 / 1,000 (Germany: 4 / 1,000 for the first five years of life). Poverty and misery are also being exacerbated by the fact that many refugees are living in tents and that currently around 5,000 other refugees are being deported to Afghanistan from Pakistan. The approaching winter at the Hindu Kush is bitterly cold.
37 Years
The Bundeswehr – which, according to its narrative, is not waging war in Afghanistan, but is merely “engaged” – can see only positive developments.[8] “For the most part,” the Afghan army has been able to “maintain an environment of security for the population’s livelihood,” announced the commander of the “Afghanistan Task Force” of the Bundeswehr’s Operations Command Headquarters, Col. Jörn Jakschik. The training of Afghan soldiers is making “good progress” and “visible results” have been “achieved particularly in operational command,” according to Jakschik. The colonel calls for “patience and endurance,” because Afghanistan needs “perseverance,” while however, avoiding to mention how much time this will take. Afghanistan has been in a state of war for almost 37 years, without significant interruption – also due to German support of the insurgency in the 1980s and the Bundeswehr’s counterinsurgency since 2001.
Global Geopolitics 