Berlin, June 30, (dpa/GNA) – The last soldiers of Germany’s mission in Afghanistan are expected to arrive back at the Wunstorf air base in Lower Saxony later on Wednesday.
The final contingent of troops were flown out from the field camp in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country last night, ending 20 years of German military involvement in Afghanistan.
Germany’s defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that “a historic chapter” was coming to a close. She said it had been “an intensive deployment that has challenged and shaped the Bundeswehr, in which the Bundeswehr has proven itself in combat.”
Fifty-nine German soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan, 35 of them in attacks or in combat. The mission cost more than 12 billion euros. Most recently, the core mission of the NATO force was to train Afghan forces.
The leader of Germany’s Left Party, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, told dpa on Wednesday that the Afghan deployment had failed in her view.
“Measured against goals such as stability, the building of a democratic state and the protection of fundamental rights, the mission can only be described as a failure,” she said.
The German Bundestag’s military ombudswoman, Eva Hoegl, meanwhile spoke of a “moving moment,” and said Germany’s armed forces “deserve thanks and recognition for this achievement”.
At the same time, she stressed that the Bundestag has a special responsibility to “also take stock critically and honestly.” This could be done by a commission of enquiry, she said.
All NATO troops are expected to leave by a deadline of September 11, set earlier this year by Washington. The United States has the most troops still in the country. Prior to the withdrawal, Germany had the second-largest contingent.
They leave behind an unstable situation in the country. In total, the Islamists have recaptured around 90 of the country’s approximately 400 districts since 1 May, the official start of the withdrawal of US and NATO troops.
In the process, hundreds of government security forces have been killed, wounded, captured or persuaded to surrender, and the withdrawal has been criticized by political leaders in Afghanistan.
“The presence of German forces was giving moral support to the security forces and the people,” said Fawzia Hamidi, a member of the Afghan parliament. “Now that they have left people think that the situation has got so bad that everyone is abandoning us.”
She told dpa that the Taliban had succeeded in taking control of Kaldar district in Balkh province as German troops departed from their bases. “The security forces had made some progress in the area,” she said, “but last night the Taliban took all the territory in the district.”
GNA