The SPD leadership wants to start in 2011 with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. 2015, it should be terminated. Experts believe that this is populist. The base does not go fast enough.
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Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) to clarify on the Afghanistan conference of his party is an "honest debate"
Sigmar Gabriel, there is no effort to conceal his pride. The SPD chief apologizes to all those who "have found no place" in the lobby of the Willy-Brandt-Haus. It sounds pretty coquette: Who would have expected to be overwhelmed by such declarations, "" will be? 900 visitors have announced their participation. If you like, but should go to the fifth floor of the party headquarters. Up top of the Hans-Jochen Vogel Hall is a video screen.

Indeed, the Afghanistan conference of the SPD is well attended. As crowded as on Friday was the Willy-Brandt-Haus most recently on 27 September. At that time, Franz Muentefering, and Frank-Walter Stein Meier had to give the biggest defeat of the SPD in the post-war history. Today, the mood is tidier, although the issue is quite serious: It is about the deployment of the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan. More than five hours discussing the comrades and external experts on war and peace.
Gabriel referenced in his speech, the central idea of the 13-page position paper, which he co-authored with Group Chief Stein Meier. Many passages he reads from the manuscript. Gabriel, who else feels like to associate freely and boldly, to foreign policy, not as safe as in the labor market. Several weeks ago, he reportedly admitted in an interview that he had formed in the Afghanistan question, no conclusive results.

The Social Democratic Party leader is that to this day will characterize the debate as such, a question of this debate. In his speech he would make it possible for many right. First, he explicitly thanked all those who engaged in Afghanistan. The SPD will not steal "from the responsibility." Gabriel does not want to stab, with the motto: Hardly the SPD is no longer in government, they distanced themselves from the effort she has begun under Chancellor Schroeder himself. After that Gabriel would like to thank all those who express critical to Afghanistan mission, such as the Office of the Council of the Evangelical Church, Margot Käßmann. Such applications need the support of the population. It was important to argue its taboo on its pros and cons.
The central and much-discussed concept in this day Gabriel and Steinmeier’s paper is that of the "corridor". Between "2013 and 2015" should the deduction be "completed". At the beginning of the retreat will be guided by the Americans who want to reduce their troops from summer 2011. The second point of the U.S. strategy, namely the previous massive increase, we will not accept, however, the SPD leadership opposes any further increase from the Bundeswehr contingent. Instead, allocating more resources into the civilian reconstruction of the country. But, says Gabriel, none of the points stand, "set in stone". He asked the companions and guests at an "honest discussion".
And he gets. The first topic, the outgoing Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta. In praise of the former German Green politician repeatedly Stein Meier, who as foreign minister had always been heavily committed to Afghanistan. However, he had one or another problem with the paper of "Frank-Walter and Mr. Chairman. He says Gabriel. Give a "precise trigger date" to be a wrong signal, "said Spanta. The procure the enemies of a free and modern Afghanistan’s strategic advantages and would torpedo the "readiness for reconciliation."
Other discussants access point later on, too. Tom Koenigs, for example, former head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, now the Bundestag of the Greens. He says he considered it "highly risky" if the German policy is not "after the Afghan reality," judge, but by how they get the most applause at German regulars. Major General Karl Müllner asks the rhetorical question of whether a complete withdrawal by 2015 "is really realistic," to give the answer himself: not "affordable." And Jurgen Liesner, who is vicariously loaded for non-governmental organizations criticized the SPD paper because it is too little to deal with the "corrupt elite" and the lawless areas of Afghanistan.