In the midst of a worsening security situation in Afghanistan, the last German soldiers left the crisis country. Probably the most dangerous foreign deployment of the Bundeswehr is over.
After almost 20 years, the most lossy and expensive foreign assignment in the history of the Bundeswehr has ended. On Tuesday, the last remaining German soldiers were flown out of Afghanistan, as the Bundeswehr announced. Camp Marmal, once the largest Bundeswehr base outside Germany, has been cleared and handed over to the Afghan security forces.
The soldiers were flown out of the field camp in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country on four military machines. The last machine, an Air Force A400M, left Afghan airspace at 9.24 p.m. The German commander Ansgar Meyer was on board. The soldiers were expected in Germany on Wednesday after a flight over Georgia.
59 German soldiers died in Afghanistan
“After almost 20 years of service, the last soldiers in our Bundeswehr left Afghanistan tonight,” said Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. “A historical chapter is coming to an end, an intensive mission that challenged and shaped the Bundeswehr, in which the Bundeswehr has proven itself in combat. A mission in which members of our armed forces were injured in body and soul, in which people lost their lives we lost, “said the CDU politician.
59 German soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan, 35 in attacks or in combat. The operation, which was originally intended to safeguard peace and then became a combat operation against the rebellious Taliban, cost more than 12 billion euros. Most recently, the core mission of the NATO troops was the training of Afghan armed forces.
On Tuesday, Kramp-Karrenbauer also announced further help for local staff who had helped the Bundeswehr in their work in recent years, for example as a translator, and who can now receive a residence permit in Germany. “We know that some of them are already on their way to Germany, others want to wait and see the situation,” said the minister.
The security situation in Afghanistan has come to a head
The Bundeswehr recently had to push the withdrawal significantly after the US government under President Joe Biden had accelerated the withdrawal. The last international soldiers are said to have left Afghanistan by September 11th at the latest, but they will probably do so many weeks earlier.
Before the relocation began in May, there were still 1,100 men and women in the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan. 750 sea containers of material were brought back to Germany by land and air, including around 120 vehicles and six helicopters.
The security situation in Afghanistan had recently worsened, especially in the north of the country. The militant Islamist Taliban captured at least six districts in June in the province of Balch, where Camp Marmal is located. There were also reports of fighting in the province on Wednesday night. It remained unclear until the very end whether there would be an attack on the camp. The Bundeswehr had brought reinforcements to the camp.
Territorial gains by the Taliban raise concerns
Overall, since May 1, the official start of the withdrawal of US and NATO troops, the Islamists have conquered around 90 of the country’s 400 or so districts. Hundreds of government security guards were killed, wounded, captured or persuaded to surrender.
According to statistics from the “New York Times”, an average of 25 government security guards died every day in June. Thousands of civilians have armed and joined the security forces following calls from political parties and figures to stop the Taliban’s advance.
Before the withdrawal began, the vast majority of observers and Western diplomats expressed the conviction that the Afghan security forces, which had been trained by NATO for years, were stronger than their reputation. The Taliban’s rapid territorial gains and the numerous surrenders of government soldiers and police officers are now increasing concerns.
Fear of civil war and refugee movements
The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, US General Austin Scott Miller, warned on Tuesday that the country could drift into civil war. Afghanistan would face “very hard times” if the divided civilian leadership of the country fail to come to an agreement and the militias, which have now been called to arms, are not controlled.
According to UN data, almost 55,000 people within Afghanistan had to flee the fighting from their villages and cities between the start of the withdrawal in early May and mid-June, twice as many as in the same period of the previous year. Neighboring countries increasingly fear a new wave of refugees. The peace talks between the government in Kabul and the Taliban are still stalling.
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