A withdrawal of NATO forces from
Afghanistan could see the country falling back under the strict Islamic rule of the
Taliban, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Saturday.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, who also heads Angela Merkel's Christian
Democrats (CDU) and is seen as the chancellor's most likely successor, said a pullout of foreign troops would be particularly tough for Afghan women.
"I am worried that if we were to ditch our responsibility (in Afghanistan) we will face horrifying images of women being stoned and hanged and of girls not able to attend school and married off," Kramp-Karrenbauer told a gathering of CDU women.