Christian Freuding, Lieutenant Colonel (GS), Policy Planning and Advisory Staff, Federal Ministry of Defence, and Thomas Ossowski, Head of division E03, Federal Foreign Office, rendered an outline of their personal experiences during their postings to Afghanistan to the members of the Körber Network Foreign Policy. In light of the extension of the ISAF mandate by the German Bundestag last week, the discussion also focused on perspectives of the German engagement in Afghanistan.

Christian Freuding was posted as chief of staff to the Provincial Reconstruction Team Kunduz (PRT). Prior to his current position, Thomas Ossowski served as ISAF Lead Governance and Deputy Political Advisor (POLAD) to the ISAF Commander in Afghanistan.

Thomas Ossowski pointed out the necessity of what one might call a pattern change with regard to policy towards Afghanistan. It was a matter of scrutinizing the strategic approach that has been pursued hitherto. The US had understood that this was needed and had embarked on an appropriate paradigm shift. President Obama no longer viewed the deployment of American troops in Afghanistan as an American strategic presence in the Central Asian area, and had held out the prospect of specific withdrawal plans.

Christian Freuding explained that the creation of a subjective feeling of security among the inhabitants of Afghanistan was one of the greatest challenges facing the German troops in the country. At the same time the primary goal of self-sustaining stability could not be attained by means of an exclusively military strategy. What was needed was a meaningful conjunction of military security, civil reconstruction and economic development. Furthermore, specific benchmarks were required in order to measure progress made in the area of the judiciary and good governance.

In the ensuing conversation the participants of the Körber Network Foreign Policy discussed various scenarios of the future of Afghanistan and the significance of regional cooperation for the stabilization of the country. There was general agreement that the German Afghanistan strategy had to be refined and that there was a need for an updated definition of the target. Participants were unanimously of the opinion that training the Afghan police and security forces had to be accorded high priority.

With this event, the Körber Network Foreign Policy continues focusing on current questions of foreign and security policy. This series has included the Background Discussions with Philip Zelikow, White Burkett Miller Professor of History, University of Virginia, Guido Steinberg, Research Fellow at the Research Division Middle East and Africa of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and Stefan Kornelius, foreign editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The discussion took place at Körber Foundation’s Berlin Office.

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