Es gilt das gesprochene Wort! (Englisch)

Chiefs of Defence, Generals, Admirals,

First of all I should like to express my gratitude for the support ISAF Regional Command North is receiving from all the nations represented in this room.

Afghanistan is our common cause. The Afghans asked for our assistance in restoring the dignity of Afghanistan and ensuring her return to the community of nations.

Moreover the ruthless terrorists of Al Q’aida and the Taliban challenge the freedom and the values which constitute our societies.

Thus, every contribution to tackling this serious threat to our security is more than welcome.

I would be most grateful, if you would relay my appreciation of your individual troop contributions to your capitals. Since I took office less than 4 weeks ago, I have not managed to speak to all of my counterparts to do so personally.

II.

„Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” I am sure you will be well familiar with this dictum of the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu.

Our military strategy for Afghanistan has been a success so far. We have done what can be done militarily. But, from a holistic point of view we can and will do more.

It is high time to renew our overall political strategy so as to reflect recent developments and turn our lessons identified into lessons learned.

The security situation in Afghanistan, including our common area of responsibility in The North, which used to be comparatively calm in the past, has deteriorated significantly. This has enormous impact as the Northern Region remains Afghanistan’s economic backbone and plays an important role as a transport route for ISAF.

The political situation in the country has also changed. President Karzai was reinaugurated last Thursday. The electoral process was less than ideal. But this must not blind us to an important fact.

Our soldiers, hand in hand with the Afghan National Security Forces, did an outstanding job in providing security. They allowed the people to travel to the polling stations and to give their vote. They made the elections happen. This is a success in itself.

The International Community will respect the decision of the Afghan people. It is now up to President Karzai and his government to prove that he deserves the trust both of the Afghan people and ourselves.

Our expectations are high. We expect him to renew his pledge to practise good governance, eradicate corruption, tackle or-ganized crime and promote reconciliation. And we expect him to live up to his promises. It is up to the Afghan government to create state institutions bound by the rule of law and designed to meet the needs of the people.

We will constantly remind President Karzai – friendly, but firmly - of this commitment. And, if necessary, we will remember that action speaks louder than words.

III.

Our future assistance will be guided by the understanding that stability and security can only be promoted in a comprehensive approach.

We will make sure that Afghanistan’s future is one where Afghanistan is shaped by Afghans. It seems we have to accept that Afghanistan will not become a Westminster-type democracy.

We also have to accept that an Afghan face needs an Afghan pace. However, our patience has its limits. We will not tolerate Afghanistan becoming a neverending story.

The public support for our operations in Afghanistan is melting away in Germany, as in many other countries. That is why we need significant improvements within the next 12 to 24 months, not only in the security area, but in all the other areas of the Afghanistan Compact as well.

For that reason, Germany is actively supporting the idea of a UN-led International Afghanistan Conference. We do need a renewed Compact that outlines benchmarks and achievable milestones on the way to self sustained security and stability in Afghanistan to ensure a „transition in responsibility”.

IV.

The Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police are key to our exit strategy.

The ANA already has become a national good for the Afghan public. With its multi-ethnic composition it supports reconciliation. But, most important, the greater operational capacity it achieves, the sooner we can leave the country.

The ANA and the Afghan National Police have already grown out of their infancy. They exercise their security responsibility for the Kabul area. This is our model for the transfer of lead security responsibility. We are going to hand over the responsibility district by district and province by province.

We aim to hand over some areas in 2010, already. But we will do that based on the advice of the NATO commanders and in close consultation and close coordination with our partners: „Together in, together out!” To do so we must identify what exactly needs to be done, which resources could make a difference and who should do it.

A prerequisite for more Afghan ownership in the security area is to accelerate the build-up of training capabilities. For that reason we must resource our efforts to train and support the ANA and ANP more adequately. In addition, we must focus on training the Afghan trainers. This will increase the training capacity and create a longlasting effect.

These investments will relieve the burden on our troops and contribute directly to safety and security in the region.

V.

Let me be clear: Any campaign against extremism in Afghanistan will not succeed with bullets or bombs. Development is paramount to distract the people from the radical ideas of our opponents. In the long run it will stop young idealistic people from becoming fanatics in the hand of contemptible terrorists.

In other words, security and development are geared to the same overarching strategic end: a stable Afghanistan, which is in a position to protect her citizens from threats wherever they arise – be they internal or external.

However, development is not a military task. The military has to set the conditions for the civilian agencies to carry out their task in a secure environment. This seems self evident, but often enough the public just blames the military for the lack of momentum and failures in other areas.

We have to bring the civilian players to the people in Afghanistan - UN bodies, international financial institutions, national development agencies as well as the plethora of non-governmental organizations.

I am well aware that there is a growing ideological rift between them and the military.

They tend to consider the military as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. We need to engage them to better promote our concept of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams. We have to underline that we all serve a common objective.

From my perspective there is a crying need to improve harmonization especially in the development of rural areas in Afghanistan. To encourage this, we have to improve the security situation. For that reason I have decided to send an additional infantry company to Kunduz in January 2010. This will bolster the growing Afghan capabilities in our AOR. And as the military does more, we will ask the civilian agencies to join us in doing their part.

However, we will not further increase troop levels apart from that for the time being, but rather await the results of the Afghanistan Conference.

At this point I should clarify our position on AWACS. In a nutshell, Germany continues to support the plan to bring AWACS to Afghanistan. However, we will not ask our parliament for an endorsement at this point of time, as NATO most likely will not be able to use the system for the foreseeable future.

VI.

To sum it up: The road to a democratic and stabile Afghanistan is long and bumpy. The mission is highly demanding, it is definitely not a walkover. Thus we are prepared to continue and extend our help. Lasting – not everlasting – assistance is still necessary to overcome the devastation of thirty years of war and the cruel legacy of the Taliban.

We need an updated strategy now with a clear aim and benchmarks. Once it is agreed upon, we need a pragmatic and binding division of work. Every actor involved - at the national as well as international level - needs to perform and show full commitment.

It is against this background that Germany will rethink and adjust, maybe even strengthen its military commitment to make Afghanistan a success.