The failed Afghanistan operation has shown that there is an urgent need to examine Germany’s involvement in peace and security – thoroughly, independently and with a focus on the future. IFSH director Professor Dr Ursula Schröder:
“An evaluation of Germany’s engagement in peacekeeping missions is long overdue and is now of the highest priority. We support the creation of an independent commission on the future of Germany’s peacekeeping operations. The task of this commission is to formulate research-based lessons learned and guiding recommendations for the execution of ongoing and future peacekeeping missions. A purely reactionary and politically-driven evaluation of the failures of an individual mission is neither productive nor sufficient. In order to make Germany’s foreign policy more future-proof, the peace- and security policy risks and opportunities of German involvement in foreign peacekeeping missions must now be thoroughly and scientifically examined and reassessed.”
The IFSH press release (in German) from 18 August can be found here.