The low, rectangular building shines a brilliant white in the blinding midday sun. But the men gathered in front of the one-storey building are not concerned about the heat. Their gaze is fixed on the narrow ribbon that stretches diagonally across the entrance, flapping in the wind. A man in traditional Afghan clothes walks to the front. A quick snip with the scissors, a round of applause, handshakes all round – and from now on the new police station in Taloqan, in the northern Afghan province of Takhar, belongs to the local security forces. The governors in Afghanistan have been using the “symbolic” scissors a lot recently, because the development of the police force is making progress, despite continuing problems and a fragile security situation. Assisting the Afghan police is a priority of German support for the war-torn country. About 22,000 police officers in Afghanistan have received basic and advanced training since 2002 – either direct from German training officers or under German supervision. This year alone, Germany will spend about 36 million euros on rebuilding the Afghan police force. 33 police buildings financed by Germany will be handed over this year in northern Afghanistan. And a new building to house the police headquarters in Faisabad, which will also serve as a regional training centre, will be completed by the summer of 2009. The aim of Germany’s engagement, which is closely coordinated with EUPOL Afghanistan, the European police mission, is to enable the Afghan police to gradually take on more and more responsibility for guaranteeing security.
Civil reconstruction and security are the cornerstones of the Federal Government’s Concept for Afghanistan, which was revised in September 2007. “There can be no security without reconstruction and development,” says Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. The reverse also applies, of course. At the Afghanistan Conference held in Paris in June 2008, the foreign minister made it clear how committed Germany was to providing assistance. He announced an annual increase of 140 million euros in German civil reconstruction aid for 2009 and 2010. By then Germany will have spent a total of one billion euros on civil reconstruction, money that is also flowing into the infrastructure. Kabul’s most important arterial roads have been renewed under Germany’s supervision; and 2.5 million people in Kabul, Herat and Kunduz now have a functioning water supply again.
Over 30,000 German soldiers, police officers and civilian technicians have served on the Hindu Kush up to now. Numerous non-governmental organizations have had staff in the country for years, many of them working in the fields of education and culture. In 2001, after 23 years of civil war, there was hardly any school education left in Afghanistan, and cultural life had come to a standstill. Educational and cultural projects are among the priorities of Germany’s engagement. Despite several setbacks, there are now successes to be reported. About 3,500 schools are now teaching 6.5 million students – five times as many as in 2001. Since last year Germany has had full responsibility for teacher-training nationwide. More than 170 Afghan university lecturers have travelled to Germany for training courses so far. Modern computing centres have gone online at the universities of Kabul and Herat in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Berlin’s Technical University. Even the development of the media is largely in German hands. Deutsche Welle (DW) trains Afghan journalists, offers internships and organizes workshops. Six days a week, DW Radio broadcasts a current-affairs programme in the Pashto and Dari languages reporting exclusively on reconstruction projects and democratization in Afghanistan. Deutsche Welle has delivered satellite equipment to its Afghan partner stations in the provinces for broadcasting DW’s topical radio programmes. The development of the judicial system is also being supported. In cooperation with the United Nations, the German Federal Government has been sending “justice coordinators” to the urban centres of Jalalabad, Herat, Gardez, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Kandahar and Bamyan since July.
The Bundeswehr (German armed forces) is also very much involved in Afghanistan. About 3,500 German soldiers have been deployed to safeguard the security aspect of Germany’s Concept for Afghanistan. This makes Germany the third largest provider of troops to the UN-mandated ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) on the Hindu Kush. Within ISAF, the German army is responsible for the north of the country. There, the Bundeswehr has also taken over command of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Kunduz and Faisabad. A civilian-and-military “dual leadership”, consisting of a member of the Federal Foreign Office and a Bundeswehr officer, are coordinating reconstruction and cooperation with the local population in these regions. However, the current strength of the troops will not remain the same. At the end of June the Federal Government announced it would be sending 1,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan in 2009 because of the fragile security situation. Planning for an expanded Bundeswehr deployment can begin once the Bundestag has made a decision on this mandate on 12 October. Like the Bundeswehr soldiers already stationed in the country, their mission will be to “secure, stabilize and rebuild the country, together with the Afghans as equal partners,” says Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier. “This is our approach, and we stand by it.”
