German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that the country’s troops have completely withdrawn from Afghanistan after participating in NATO’s ‘Resolute Support’ mission for nearly two decades.
“Tonight, the last of the Bundeswehr soldiers have left Afghanistan safely. After twenty years, our most intense mission abroad has come to an end,” wrote Kramp-Karrenbauer and Twitter.
“This is the end of a historic chapter, an intense effort that has challenged and shaped us,” they added from the German Ministry of Defense.
The minister also expressed her “great gratitude to the more than 150,000 men and women” who have served in the Asian country since Germany joined the US-led mission in 2001. During the time of the mission, the German military suffered. 59 fatal casualties.
On Tuesday, the last remaining German troops in Afghanistan took off in a plane from the Camp Marmal air base, near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, in the north of the country, after which the base was formally handed over to the Army. Afghan, they report German media.
For its part, the US plans to leave a contingent of about 650 troops in Afghanistan to protect diplomats after the Pentagon completes a general withdrawal of its troops from the country, which will largely take place in the next two weeks.
However, according to some reports, White House officials are now encouraging the military to slow the pace of withdrawal amid reports of Taliban advances in the region.
At the same time, a recent analysis by the US intelligence community pointed out that the Government of Afghanistan, led by President Ashraf Ghani, could collapse between six and twelve months after all US troops are withdrawn from the country. .
