Germany aims at 2011 for first handover in Afghanistan (Roundup)

Jul 9, 2010, 17:39 GMT

Berlin - Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday that Germany aims to begin handing over security responsibilities for Afghanistan's northern provinces to local forces by 2011, amid the continued unpopularity of the mission at home.

The German army should transfer 'at least one' of the nine provinces it controls by 2011, he said.

US President Barack Obama announced in December that he wanted US troops to begin withdrawing from the country by July 2011. Germany, which has the third-largest NATO contingent in the Hindu Kush, had not named a specific date for its own withdrawal plan until now.

'We want to create the conditions within this legislative period that will allow the step-by-step withdrawal of our military presence,' Westerwelle said in a statement to parliament.

'The operation in Afghanistan is certainly not popular, but it is necessary,' Westerwelle told the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament.

The address came days ahead of an international conference on the region, to be held in the Afghan capital Kabul on July 20. The meeting aims to assess progress since international leaders met in London at the start of the year.

The majority of Germans think their country should withdraw from Afghanistan, where some 4,500 troops are stationed.

'Things are not all good in Afghanistan,' Westerwelle said, adding, 'Those who think we can create European conditions in the Hindu Kush, they are wrong.'

In recent weeks, criticism of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) strategy in Afghanistan has grown, with some saying that the West is losing the battle against the Taliban.

'Our goal must be an Afghanistan that is good enough,' the minister said.

This means creating an environment in which Afghans can provide for stability themselves and in which the human rights reinstated after the fall of the Taliban are respected, he noted.

Westerwelle said Afghanistan can not be stabilized by military or humanitarian means alone, but requires a political solution. He also called upon Afghan President Hamid Karzai to take a stronger stance against corruption.