Germany's enormous scepticism

The grand coalition in Germany would prefer to remain silent about the German military's participation in the operations in Afghanistan but the opposition won't let it, the daily Der Standard writes: "There is enormous scepticism about the Afghanistan operation. It's glaringly obvious that the coalition is failing to make it clear to the people why the Germans are needed in Afghanistan and why they don't just stick carnations in their guns. But given the stepping up of the German offensive in Afghanistan and the approaching elections in both Kabul and Germany Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung (CDU) will have no choice but to finally clarify his stance and stop nattering on vaguely and euphemistically about a 'stabilisation operation'. … The soldiers and the citizens have a right to be informed clearly about the dangers. Any playing down of the situation only plays into the hands of the Left Party, which unrealistically demands complete withdrawal."

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