Germany to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

Germany has announced that it will follow the US in withdrawing all military personnel from Afghanistan.

Bundeswehr to withdraw from Afghanistan

On Wednesday, Germany’s Defence Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, declared that German troops would be withdrawing from Afghanistan, following Joe Biden’s announcement that US forces would be leaving the country by September 11. "We have always said we are going in together, and we are going out together," Kramp-Karrenbauer said. "I stand for an orderly withdrawal, and I expect us to decide this today (at NATO)."

Germany’s foreign ministry has since said that representatives from the US, the UK, France and Germany will meet to discuss the Ukrainian-Russian border and the nuclear agreement with Iran, however, the main focus of the meeting will be Afghanistan. A NATO decision will be made following this meeting.

The withdrawal announcements come just after the US declared its intention to station an extra 500 military personnel in Germany, in order to strengthen bilateral ties.

Germany in Afghanistan

Germany’s withdrawal will likely sync up with the US withdrawal, meaning that the 1.300 German troops in Afghanistan would withdraw by September, ending their current, NATO-led mission of training the Afghan National Defence forces. 

Germany’s 1.300-man military presence is the second-largest in Afghanistan, after the United States. According to reports, Britain has also announced it would be withdrawing from Afghanistan, pulling around 750 troops out from the country.