German Parliamentary Debates and Decision-Making on Afghanistan

Description

The fall of Kabul in August 2021 marked the end of 20 years of German civilian and military engagement in Afghanistan. Over this time, more than 90,000 Bundeswehr soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan, 59 of whom died there. At a cost of about EUR 12.3 bn, the engagement in the Afghanistan missions amounted to the largest and most costly military operation in the history of the Bundeswehr. This contribution reflects upon parliamentary involvement throughout this period, placing emphasis on the initial political decisions and turning points of the Afghanistan engagement.

Patrick A. Mello is Privatdozent at the Technical University of Munich and Research Associate at the Chair of European and Global Governance at the Hochschule für Politik München. His research focuses on questions related to international security and foreign policy, especially concerning the influence of parliaments, the impact of party politics, and multinational military coalitions. His book Democratic Participation in Armed Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan) received the 2015 Dissertation Award of the German Political Science Association.