Lieutenant General Ton van Loon presenting the Corps to the audience

The Dutch, the Germans and the Mission in Afghanistan

A comparison of the respective discussions and experiences.

MÜNSTER - On Tuesday, 01 June 2010, a symposium took place organized by the Westfaehlische Wilhelms-University in Muenster. It reviewed and discussed the role of the Netherlands and Germany in Afghanistan and the resulting political discussions in both countries. The 1(German/Netherlands) Corps was represented by its commander LtGen Ton van Loon and Corps members who have recently returned from the mission in Afghanistan, where they worked in the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The agenda of the symposium included lectures by scientists, politicians and also a presentation of the experiences gained in Afghanistan. Some of the lecturers were: Dr Michael Paul (Berlin) “The Bundeswehr in a mission abroad: Ranging from humanitarian aid to combat against insurgencies“, Mr. Jan Willem Beaujean (Den Haag) Deputy Civilian representative Task Force Uruzgan VIII) “protecting the people with a 3-D-approach”, Dr. Citha Maass (Berlin) “After London: Revision of the German involvement in Afghanistan“. LtCol Paul van der Touw and LtCol Gerwin Hennig (who both worked in headquarters ISAF from July 2009 to February 2010) briefed about their experiences in Afghanistan.

LtCol Paul van der Touw focussed on the importance of multinationality during nowadays operations and made it clear that the ISAF mission is characterised by a multinational commitment accomplished by the international community. “Of course there are cultural differences among coalition partners but that doesn’t matter anymore”. Multinationality is a required characteristic of modern military operations. Multinationality strengthens legitimacy of an operation, or, if that is applicable, may even safeguards impartiality. It also enables armed forces to capitalize on each other’s capabilities and allows for collective burden sharing. There are also downsides, like for instance national limitations to a mandate, caveats, or complexities with regard to Command and Control relationships”.

LtCol Gerwin Hennig focussed on the comprehensive approach and stated that military and civilians actors have to and did work together in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan is a very poor country with a magnitude of complex problems. In order to be successful in Afghanistan we, the International Community incl. ISAF, need to act comprehensively and as a prerequisite we need to have knowledge, not only information, about all aspects of the Afghan challenge”. The comprehensive approach is of great importance, meaning that there is not an exclusive military solution, but a combination of defence, diplomacy and development. The involvement of civilian partners as the Afghanistan government, IOs, NGOs is necessary; the so called Comprehensive Approach is key.

After these presentations, a panel discussion took place with the following participants: Ruprecht Polenz (Member of the German Bundestag, Chairman of the Foreign Committee), Winfried Nachtwei (Member of the German Bundestag, ret.), Bert Koenders (Minister for Scientific Cooperation, ret.) and our commander Ton van Loon. During the discussion our commander took the opportunity the stress that Germany and the Netherlands are not that different in their approaches towards Afghanistan and that Germany (as well as other countries) should be proud of the work their soldiers do in Afghanistan. He also stressed the importance of the Comprehensive Approach.

In short, an interesting day with good discussions. A symposium where the Corps presented itself in a professional way to the audience and to some of the key-leaders of the Muenster community.