German Greens Back Using Troops for Afghan Campaign

17/05/2001| IslamWeb

ROSTOCK, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's pacifist Greens party voted by a large majority to back the deployment of troops for Afghanistan on Saturday, averting the collapse of the coalition government.Greens co-leader Claudia Roth described the vote at the party's congress as the ``most difficult decision in the history of our party.'' Environment Minister Juergen Trittin estimated that about 75 percent of delegates had been in favor.
A vote against the deployment could have triggered the collapse of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrat-Greens government, forcing him to find a new coalition partner or to call an early general election.
Germany is due to begin its troop mobilization for Afghanistan on Monday with an initial deployment of air transport and medical crew.
Parliament voted narrowly a week ago for the deployment after some Greens ended their opposition at the last minute. All but four of the Greens' 47 members of parliament backed the decision to mobilize 3,900 soldiers for the U.S.-led Afghan campaign.
Greens leaders at the party congress in the northern port city of Rostock were keen to stress the prospects for peace as Afghan ethnic and political leaders prepare to gather in Bonn next week for talks to forge a post-Taliban interim government.