Italy and Germany have withdrawn all their troops from the US-led coalition in Afghanistan.
The announcement came from Italy on Wednesday and Germany on Tuesday night. With this, the two European countries ended their 20-year Afghan journey with NATO.
Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said in a statement that their “mission” in Afghanistan had officially ended on Tuesday night.
The last Italian troops in Afghanistan landed at Pisa International Airport that day. In a statement, German Defense Minister Anegret Kramp-Karenbauer said the latest troops from Bundeswehr had left Afghanistan on Tuesday evening.
Anegret describes it as the end of a historical chapter. And Lorenzo Guerini said the troop withdrawal would not sever ties with Afghanistan. Italy will be involved in the development of the Afghan Republic in different ways.
According to the two countries, a total of 1.5 million German and 50,000 Italian troops have served in Afghanistan in the last 20 years. At least 53 Italian soldiers were killed and 623 wounded, and 59 German soldiers were killed.
