Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10HAMBURG6
2010-02-17 12:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Hamburg
Cable title:  

HAMBURG POLITICIANS UNDERSCORE SPD DILEMMA ON AFGHANISTAN

Tags:  PREL PGOV AF GM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 171215Z FEB 10
FM AMCONSUL HAMBURG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0314
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0279
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHAG/AMCONSUL HAMBURG 0360
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAMBURG 000006 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/16/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV AF GM
SUBJECT: HAMBURG POLITICIANS UNDERSCORE SPD DILEMMA ON AFGHANISTAN

CLASSIFIED BY: Karen Johnson, CG, Hamburg, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAMBURG 000006

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/16/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV AF GM
SUBJECT: HAMBURG POLITICIANS UNDERSCORE SPD DILEMMA ON AFGHANISTAN

CLASSIFIED BY: Karen Johnson, CG, Hamburg, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: Two senior Social Democratic Party (SPD) and
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Hamburg Landtag representatives
discussed the London Conference and the German-Afghanistan
debate with Hamburg P/E staff on January 28. While the SPD is
struggling with internal party calls to limit military
engagement and quickly withdraw German troops from Afghanistan,
the CDU is increasingly mindful that it can no longer sit on the
sidelines and ignore calls for increased German support. End
summary.


2. (C) Hamburg Deputy SPD Caucus Leader Ingo Egloff pointed to
the great uncertainty among the national SPD leadership
concerning the correct approach toward German military
engagement in Afghanistan. He noted the disarray among the
party leadership that manifested itself in the recent federal
SPD board meeting, to which Helmut Schmidt had been invited as a
special advisor. In Egloff's view, the fact that Schmidt was
invited highlighted the current SPD leadership's inability to
devise a consistent strategy on its own. (Note: The irony of
this invitation lies in the fact that Schmidt himself left
active politics 28 years ago. End note.) Egloff said that the
SPD is still mindful of the many voters it lost because of the
former SPD/Greens government's decision to become militarily
involved in the Kosovo war. He emphasized that the SPD is now
determined not to allow The Left Party to distinguish itself as
the sole peace party.


3. (C) According to Egloff, a 180-degree about-face of the
SPD -- toward calling for an immediate withdrawal of all German
troops from Afghanistan -- was only prevented by Bundestag SPD
Caucus Leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose credibility would
be completely destroyed if the SPD adopted such a drastic
position. As former Foreign Minister and SPD Vice Chancellor
during the previous CDU/SPD coalition government, Steinmeier
shared accountability for Germany's decision in favor of
military deployments to Afghanistan.


4. (C) Hamburg CDU Caucus Leader Frank Schira noted that there
is an increasing realization in Germany that peace has its
price, and that "the days of checkbook diplomacy are finally
over." However, he underscored that the German discourse on
Afghanistan must be seen against the backdrop of a "60 year long
tradition of peace" and an underlying pacifist mood among
Germans. Commenting on the present political debate as a whole,
Schira stated that responsible thinking on Afghanistan
engagement currently prevailed in the SPD. He also noted that
it was strong leftist sentiment that resulted in then-chancellor
Helmut Schmidt's loss in 1982 over the controversial NATO
decision to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons. Schira's
clear implication here is that Steinmeier could be at risk if he
ties himself too tightly to the current government's Afghanistan
policy.


5. (C) COMMENT: Until recently, Egloff was Hamburg SPD
chairman and a member of the national SPD Party Board; as such,
he had his finger on the (national) SPD pulse. This is the first
time that we've heard a high-ranking state representative from
the SPD remark that only Steinmeier's influence has prevented
the SPD from pulling its support for continuation of the
Afghanistan military deployment - a deployment the SPD advocated
before being driven into the opposition. We find Egloff's
assessment about Steinmeier a bit simplistic since the SPD
caucus and the centrist SPD members have also supported the
deployment to Afghanistan, not just Steinmeier. The SPD's
credibility as a party will suffer if it calls for an immediate
troop withdrawal, and the party's leadership knows this. END
COMMENT.


6. (SBU) This message has been coordinated with Embassy Berlin.

JOHNSON