The German military must stay in Afghanistan until the Taliban has been defeated, the leader of the Germany's Christian Democrat parliamentary party said in an interview made available Saturday, DPA reported. The German mission was not just about the people in Afghanistan but also "about ourselves," Volker Kauder told Berlin-based weekly Tagesspiegel am Sonntag in a statement to be published Sunday. Those asking for a withdrawal of German troops "seriously threaten our security," Kauder said. The Taliban were closely following current discussions in Germany and drawing new courage from them, he added. "But if we say clearly: we'll stay until the Taliban have been defeated, it will weaken their position. The people in Afghanistan also have to be reassured that they can rely on us," Kauder said.
