Afghanistan outcome very regrettable: Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany had not achieved what it had hoped for in Afghanistan and that the outcome was very “regrettable”.

Speaking to Deutsche Welle, Merkel said: “We are of course very sad about the fact that we simply did not manage to achieve what we wanted to do, namely find a self-sustaining political order in Afghanistan, one in which girls can go to school, women can fulfill their wishes, and with lasting peace.”

She also said that the blame for this lies not with Germany alone, but according to her Afghans also failed to get this right.

“Often, I’ve asked in discussions: how come so many young Afghan men want to come here, while at the same time our men and women in uniform are stationed over there? … Nevertheless, we simply must accept that, despite our best intentions, we did not manage to create the order we would have liked to see there,” Merkel said.

“The blame for this lies not with Germany alone. The Afghans, for their part, did not get it done either. It is simply very regrettable.”

On the evacuation process from Afghanistan Merkel said that Germany managed to evacuate lots of local staff from the country, while according to her still many remain in the country.

“We managed to evacuate lots of local staff from the country for the Federal Police and the Federal Armed Forces. Most of the helpers who are still in Afghanistan today are those who worked with us in the sphere of development aid. (…) Now we have some catch-up work to do, and we need to get as many of these people out of the country as possible. We have, after all, also helped many Afghans who did not cooperate directly with Germany, but who were active advocates of freedom and democracy in Afghanistan. Many remain there, and we will not forget about those people,” she added.

This comes after German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported Sunday that Germany is planning to send its ambassador to Afghanistan, Markus Potzel, to Kabul in the coming weeks for talks with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

Deutsche Welle also reported Sunday that the German government is seeking a reassessment of its relations in pursuit of better communication with the IEA.

According to Welt, there is hope in Berlin that German diplomats could return to Afghanistan in some capacity, initially just on day trips.