The Bundeswehr has ended its mission in Afghanistan, which began almost 20 years ago.

According to information from the German Press Agency, the last remaining German soldiers of the NATO mission "Resolute Support" were flown out of the field camp in Mazar-i-Sharif by the air force on Tuesday.

The soldiers of the Special Forces Command (KSK), who were relocated to the north of Afghanistan to secure the camp, were on board the aircraft.

The soldiers were expected to land in Germany on Wednesday.

The Bundeswehr had recently had to push the withdrawal significantly after the US government under President Joe Biden had accelerated the withdrawal.

The USA, as the largest provider of troops, had initially decided to withdraw by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks by the Islamist network Al-Qaeda in the USA.

The US was pushed for a withdrawal by July 4th - US national holiday.

The security situation in Afghanistan worsened with the start of the withdrawal of international troops.

Since May 1, the militant Islamist Taliban have conquered around 90 of the country's 400 or so districts.

It remained unclear until the very end whether there would be an attack on the camp.

The Bundeswehr had brought reinforcements to the camp.

A new chapter for the Bundeswehr

The mission in Afghanistan marked a new chapter for the Bundeswehr. It was opened after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and to provide military support to the United States. The Bundestag passed the first Afghanistan mandate on December 22, 2001. In January 2002 the first forces arrived in the capital, Kabul. "On January 14, 2002, German soldiers took part in a patrol in the war-torn city for the first time," said the Bundeswehr in retrospect.

Germany was the leading nation in the north of Afghanistan and was involved in this role until the end of the NATO training mission “Resolute Support”. The opposition and the Armed Forces Commissioner Eva Högl have repeatedly called for an evaluation of the mission in order to better understand progress and failures and to draw conclusions for future and ongoing missions.