“Yesterday’s terrorist attack in Taloqan fills us with grief and profound sadness. However, it must not and will not keep us from implementing our strategy in Afghanistan.
Our goal remains to start handing over responsibility for security in the near future and to begin reducing the Bundeswehr contingent at the end of the year. In spite of all the difficulties and setbacks, withdrawal will thus then become a realistic prospect for the first time.
At the same time, every possible effort has to be made to support the quest for a political solution, for the conflict in Afghanistan cannot be resolved by military means. It can only be resolved politically.”