Germany’s Green Party fractures over 2001 Afghanistan troop deployment vote
In late 2001, Germany’s red-green coalition faced a crisis over the planned deployment of troops to Afghanistan. Eight lawmakers from the Green Party refused to back the mission, leaving Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s government without a majority. Their opposition threatened to collapse the coalition just as a critical vote approached.
The eight dissidents—Christian Ströbele, Antje Hermenau, Krista Sager, and Marieluise Beck among them—argued that military involvement would worsen terrorism rather than combat it. Without their support, the coalition lacked the numbers to pass the deployment. Schröder responded by suggesting he might turn to the opposition FDP if the Greens failed to unite.
The compromise kept the red-green coalition intact but exposed deep divisions within the Green Party. The Afghanistan deployment went ahead, though the episode highlighted the challenges of maintaining unity on contentious foreign policy decisions. Ströbele and the other dissidents accepted the result, even as they stood by their opposition.
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