The German military in Afghanistan finished training local forces on Monday and focused on withdrawing from the country.



Reporters saw the transport cranes and crafts being transported out of the base while the second-largest military contingent, about 1,100 troops, was preparing its equipment to be expedited out of the country.

Berlin had deployed more than 100,000 soldiers to Afghanistan over the past two decades, many of them serving more than one tour in the country.

Fifty-nine German troops died in Afghanistan, with 35 of them killed in combat or as a result of militant attacks, making it Germany’s deadliest military mission since World War 2.

Wrapping up the operation, Germany will have to redeploy the equivalent of around 800 containers of equipment such as armoured vehicles, helicopters, weapons and ammunition.

The multinational camp in northern Mazar-i-Sharif led by Germany has been reinforced with troops and mortars, ramping up security for the duration of the withdrawal to guard the base against attacks by the Taliban.

The Taliban severely curtailed women’s and other human rights during their reign in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were ousted by U.S.-led forces. Since then they have waged a long-running insurgency and now control wide swathes of territory.