The Toughest Man In Germany Is A Woman: “We Will Not Be Blackmailed”
Chancellor Angela Merkel Defends German Presence in Afghanistan
Jul 22 10:52 PM US/Eastern
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press Writer
BERLIN (AP) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday defended Germany’s troop deployment in Afghanistan, even as a kidnapped German was found dead there and government officials warned the country is facing a higher risk of terrorist attacks.
Some 3,000 German soldiers are serving in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Merkel’s government is committed to keeping them there under a series of mandates passed by parliament. But those mandates are up for renewal later this year, and opposition politicians have called on the government to withdraw the troops.
Merkel stressed Germany’s commitment to the NATO mission in Afghanistan, especially its efforts to rebuild civilian infrastructure. She said Germany would not respond to Taliban militants’ demands that it withdraw its troops, which are situated in Afghanistan’s relatively peaceful north.
“We will do everything responsibly, and we will not be blackmailed,” the chancellor said on ARD public television.
On Saturday, a purported Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan said militants shot and killed two German hostages because Germany had not agreed to leave. Officials said Sunday that villagers recovered the body of one German, a construction worker.
Afghan and German officials said intelligence indicated that one died of a heart attack and the other was still alive. But German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said the body had bullet wounds and would be transported to Germany for an autopsy.
Other government officials warned over the weekend that there were indications al-Qaida terrorists and other militants may be planning suicide bombings in Germany.
German Islamists trained in terror camps in Pakistan re-entered Germany a few weeks ago, the weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported Sunday.
“We must assume that these people who have returned from Pakistan, are planning attacks,” August Hanning, a deputy interior minister, was quoted as saying in the paper.
“We have a lot of evidence that al-Qaida has an eye on Germany and German institutions, for example embassies,” Hanning said. “This is a new, concrete threat and for us a reason of concern.”
Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted by the daily B.Z. on Saturday as saying: “In the past days, there have been many concrete indications that Germany is increasingly in the sights of international terrorists.”
Germany has not faced any major terror attacks, but in July 2006, extremists planted bombs on two German trains which failed to explode. In March, Islamic militants threatened in a video to attack Germany unless it withdraws its troops from Afghanistan.
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Right on! I like to see a woman in government that isn’t a total political whore. Granted, she is German. What am I saying? The toughest broad I ever met was from Germany.
July 22nd, 2007 at 7:58 pmthe feminization of american political discourse is found mostly in its male politicians, if we had people like merkel, condi and margaret thatcher running things it would piss of the muzzies and even scare them a little. Go angela
(German beer)
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:59 pmMerkle is one of the few Geman politicians who rued the day that Americans redeployed their forces. German unemployment rates are sky high, not in small part because Germans can no longer rely on having a job supporting American bases.
Parts of Germany begged us to stay…And are still asking us to stay, because their local economies depend on US bases for their economic health and well-being.
And Merkle has figured it out, that like it or not, Germany and America are joined at the hip.
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:59 am