[ Interview with Hans-Joachim Preuss, German Agro Action ]

“The Kunduz operation will not bring more security”

Dr Preuss, critics say that because the Provincial Reconstruction Team links military operations and civilian aid, the civilian aid workers will also become targets for attacks. Do you now fear that too for your staff in Kunduz?
No, not any more. We were worried about that when the German government presented its concept for Afghanistan at the beginning of September. It did not differentiate between the team’s military and civilian tasks in Kunduz. In the meantime that has been specified, such as in the speech of Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul during the Parliamentary debate on the Kunduz operation. There will be a clear formal and physical separation of the troops and the aid workers of the GTZ, DED and possibly also NGOs. This clarification has taken account of the reservations of the aid organisations.

Yet there is still talk of a single Reconstruction Team ...
Yes, and I view that as being very unfortunate. For the German operation in Kunduz no longer has much in common with the concept of the British and the Americans. In their teams, military and civilian task are still mixed – military medical officers work in the public health sector, army pioneers build roads, and so on.

Do you fear that due to the military operation the civilian work in Kunduz could be pushed to the sidelines, including financially?
That depends on how much money is available. It will be very difficult to raise the extra money for Kunduz – not so much for the military than for, and especially, the Development Ministry. Originally, a total of about 30 million euros was to be available for the civilian side, but for some time now that sum has melted away like butter in the sun. If in the end the money is sufficient for only a few small-scale projects, then the civilian operation would of course be lost in comparison with the strong presence of the German troops.

The Development Minister at the beginning of October invited aid organisations to talk about their misgivings. Has the Defence Ministry also approached you?
No, not yet. So far as I know, there also has been no agreement between the Foreign Office coordination committee on humanitarian aid and the Defence Ministry. Evidently the Ministry has little interest in contacting us.

In a comment you criticised the selection of the operational area. You said it was certain the German troops would not be needed in Kunduz. However, the German government sees the operation also as a pilot project for other, as it calls them, “ISAF islands” in Afghanistan. If that is so, is it not sensible to seek a more secure place to begin with?
It is indeed no secret that the Kunduz operation is meant mainly to save the German government having to send troops to Iraq. Against this background, I can well understand the Defence Ministry choosing a relatively safe operational area. However, I view as a pretext the argument that cooperation between civilian aid workers and the military is to be tested in Kunduz for the purposes of security in general. We have repeatedly spoken out for not only Kabul to be secured in military terms, but also the Afghani provinces. But that cannot be done by “ISAF islands” based on the Kunduz model.

Nationwide occupation of the country, however, is also not an alternative. How can the security problem be resolved?
On the one hand, the building up of the Afghani security forces – the police and the military – must be driven ahead, for only they can ensure stability in the long term. That is why the money for the Kunduz military operation would be better invested in training Afghani soldiers. On the other hand, the Afghanis must come to feel that peace goes hand in hand with improvement of their living conditions. However, progress in reconstruction will depend upon international support for a long time to come. Therefore the greatest risk is that international engagement in Afghanistan will flag. If international aid stops, the Taliban will soon be there again.
Questions by Tillmann Elliesen.