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Berlin / Washington / Brussels (dpa) - Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer assumes that the NATO countries will decide on Wednesday to jointly withdraw their troops from Afghanistan on September 11th.
"We always said: We go in together, we go out together," she said on Wednesday in the ARD "Morgenmagazin".
«I stand for an orderly withdrawal.
And that's why I assume that this is how we will decide today. "
On Tuesday it became known that the USA, as the largest provider of troops in the crisis state, wanted to withdraw its soldiers after 20 years on September 11th - the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
This Wednesday, the foreign and defense ministers of the NATO states will discuss this.
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There are currently around 10,000 soldiers from NATO countries and partner nations in Afghanistan.
They are supposed to support the democratically elected government by training and advising security forces in their fight against Islamist extremists like the Taliban.
Germany currently has around 1,000 soldiers on site.
Kramp-Karrenbauer made it clear that the withdrawal of the US soldiers inevitably entails the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr.
"That would mean that we also synchronize our plans in NATO with those of the USA."
The US wants to start withdrawal on May 1st and have it completed by September 11th.
For the Bundeswehr, the most loss-making mission in its history is about to come to an end.
59 German soldiers died in Afghanistan, 35 of them were killed in combat or in attacks.
Afghanistan is also the second longest foreign deployment of the Bundeswehr after the Kosovo mission, which began in 1999.
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US President Joe Biden wants to comment on the US withdrawal plans on the evening of German time (8:15 p.m. CEST).
A US government official said the withdrawal would be coordinated with NATO states and other partners.
Despite continuing violence from the militant Islamist Taliban, it will be carried out without any conditions.
"The president has decided that a conditions-based approach that has been the approach of the past two decades is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever."
The German government recently advocated making the end of the NATO operation in Afghanistan dependent on the success of the peace negotiations between the Taliban and the government in Kabul.
But the talks did not progress in the end.
The US government representative justified the new date for an end to the operation with the fact that a hasty and poorly coordinated withdrawal could endanger the international troops.
He stressed that September 11th was the latest date to complete the withdrawal.
The goal could be achieved much earlier.
The insurgents had recently threatened new violence against NATO troops if the deadline of May 1 was not met.
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A US-initiated Afghanistan conference in Istanbul at the end of the month is intended to accelerate the Afghan peace process.
In the past few days and weeks there had been numerous consultations between representatives of the USA, Turkey, the United Nations, the Afghan government and the Taliban in order to prepare the conference, which was planned for several days, and to bring the positions of the conflicting parties closer together.
In response to the US's new plans, however, the Taliban ruled out their participation in a planned peace conference before a full withdrawal of international troops on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, Mohammad Naeem, wrote on Twitter.
The US government official warned the Taliban of attacks on international troops during the withdrawal.
The insurgents had been informed that in such a case the US would strike back hard, he said.
With a view to women's rights in Afghanistan, he added that the US would do all it can to protect them with all diplomatic, humanitarian and economic means.
Experts warn that the achievements since the overthrow of the Taliban regime in late 2001 could be undone if troops withdrew too quickly.
Under Trump, the US committed itself in an agreement with the Taliban agreed in February of last year to withdraw its troops and those of its international allies completely from Afghanistan by May 1.
In recent weeks, US government officials have pointed out that it will be difficult to meet the deadline for logistical reasons.
At the same time, they accused the Taliban of failing to fulfill their obligations because they did not stop attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians and did not renounce terrorism.
In the Doha Agreement, the Taliban had promised that Afghanistan would no longer pose a terrorist threat against the United States and its allies.
They have also promised peace negotiations with the government in Kabul, which should lead to a permanent ceasefire and a political roadmap for the future.
A negotiated solution within Afghanistan is still not in sight.
According to official information, there are currently around 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan.
At its peak ten years ago it was around 100,000 American soldiers.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, for which the terrorist network Al-Qaeda was blamed, triggered the entry of US-led troops into Afghanistan the following month.
The international military operation led to the overthrow of the Taliban regime, which had refused to extradite Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210414-99-197569 / 3
NATO on "Resolute Support" mission in Afghanistan