With no tangible results after twenty wasted years, Germany departs Afghanistan

Over the last couple of years Germany maintained the second largest contingent of troops in Afghanistan after the United States. Upon their departure, the German defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said that after nearly 20 years of deployment, the last remaining German soldiers had left Afghanistan.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer added that this is “the end of a historic chapter of an intensive mission”.

59, German soldiers died in Afghanistan, 35 of them had been killed in combat, or as a result of militant attacks, making it Germany's deadliest military mission since World War Two.

The minister vowed to discuss where it went wrong and what Berlin has learned.

We've not only accomplished nothing. We have grievously damaged Afghan society over the last 20 years of bombing and so on and so forth. There was never a political coalition, in Afghanistan, to support the United States, even less so than in Vietnam, in my opinion.

Frank Emspak, Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin

Because of the security problems in Afghanistan and the increasing levels of violence, the German military kept the details of its withdrawal vague.

Berlin sent its forces to Afghanistan in the wake of the 911 attacks on the US in 2001.

Germany withdraws from Afghanistan

The German defense minister says that ‘after nearly 20 years, of deployment the last soldiers left Afghanistan’.

Meanwhile British media reports suggest the majority of British troops have quietly withdrawn from Afghanistan. Again, Britain withdrawing its forces would have been shrouded in secrecy.

In mid April US President Joe Biden and NATO announced that they would pull out all the roughly 10,000 foreign troops still in Afghanistan at the time by September, 11, marking the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York that sparked the invasion of the country itself.

The mission had been aimed at toppling the then ruling Taliban government, however, 20 years later, Washington has been negotiating with the very same said militant group on the best way for "the coalition of the willing" to withdraw.

US embassy in Kabul on the brink of being shut down

The US embassy in Kabul is on the brink of being shut down after the humiliating evacuation of American troops from the Bagram air base.

During the past 20 years Afghans have witnessed nothing but a spiral of violence and terror as a result of the presence of foreign forces.

It is obvious that this 20 years presence here hasn't benefited the Afghans in any way. Here we are with 2500 troops left, more or less, who knows, you know, thousands of contractors and several different things have come out in the newspaper in the last week.

One, in spite of all this alleged training and so on and so forth, the only thing that is flyable in Afghanistan right now, for weeks, are the Russian made helicopters.

Frank Emspak, Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin

Meanwhile, US officials speaking to CNN, on condition of anonymity, indicated that America itself may complete its withdrawal within days. One official says the Pentagon is considering keeping at least 650 troops in the country to safeguard the American Embassy and Kabul Airport.

Taliban welcome US pullout from Bagram airbase

The Taliban say Afghanistan can get closer to peace and stability now that all US troops are leaving the country, as the foreign forces

This comes as violence has sharply increased between Taliban militants and government forces since the US missed a May withdrawal deadline agreed between the militant group and the former US administration of Donald Trump.

According to the Pentagon, the Taliban are now estimated to be in control of 81 districts out of the country's 419.

There are fears of a looming Civil War, as the warring sides struggle to clinch a possible power sharing peace deal during intra Afghan negotiations.

US president vows and vows again to leave Afghanistan

The pledge by Biden to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by September the 11th is seen as the end of one struggle and the beginning of another by the people of Afghanistan, some of whom fear the dominance of extremism promoted by the Taliban.

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