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After the US decision to withdraw, NATO initiated the end of its mission in Afghanistan.

According to the military alliance, the foreign and defense ministers of the 30 NATO countries agreed to begin the withdrawal of troops on May 1 “in an orderly, coordinated and deliberate manner”.

All NATO troops should leave Afghanistan “within a few months”.

Should the militant Islamist Taliban launch attacks on Allied troops during the retreat, this will be answered with a determined reaction.

"The withdrawal of our troops does not mean ending our relations with Afghanistan," said a statement by the member states' foreign and defense ministers published on Wednesday evening.

The country, its people and its institutions will continue to be supported in promoting security and safeguarding the achievements of the past 20 years.

The decision to withdraw is only the "beginning of a new chapter".

According to the federal government's plans, the Bundeswehr could be withdrawn from Afghanistan by mid-August.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) said on Wednesday in a telephone briefing of the specialist politicians of all parliamentary groups about the withdrawal plans, as the news agency dpa learned from several participants.

Germany is the second largest provider of troops

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After the USA, Germany is the second largest provider of troops to the NATO operation in Afghanistan.

There are currently 1,100 German soldiers stationed there.

There are a total of 10,000 NATO soldiers.

US President Joe Biden had announced that the USA, the largest provider of troops in the crisis state, would bring its soldiers home after 20 years on September 11th - the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

For the partners, a continuation of the mission would only have been possible with considerable additional costs and risks.

The soldiers are currently supposed to support the democratically elected government by training and advising security forces in their fight against Islamist extremists such as the Taliban.

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Kramp-Karrenbauer had already made it clear before the NATO video conference that the withdrawal of the US soldiers necessarily entails the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr.

"We always said: We go in together, we go out together," said the CDU politician in the ARD "Morgenmagazin".

With this decision, the Bundeswehr's most loss-making mission in its history is about to 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.

Maas pledges further support to Afghanistan

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said in the ARD “Tagesthemen” that the decision to jointly withdraw troops had been supported by all 30 NATO allies.

It will be an orderly withdrawal, with which the security of the soldiers is guaranteed.

Maas assured Afghanistan that its civilian support would continue for the period after the withdrawal.

"We spend almost half a billion euros every year on reconstruction work in Afghanistan, and that will continue." He also believes that the peace negotiations in Qatar will achieve lasting results so that there will be no chaos in Afghanistan after the troops have withdrawn breaks out.

"We absolutely have to prevent that."