German leaders, including outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, gathered in Berlin on Wednesday to officially mark the end of Germany’s nearly 20-year Afghanistan mission and honor the sacrifices made by the men and women of the Bundeswehr.

The traditional military ceremony began with a wreath-laying at the Bundeswehr Memorial for the army’s war dead, which the Defense Ministry said took place “in quiet contemplation: The Afghanistan mission shaped the Bundeswehr — 59 comrades lost their lives.”

In addressing troops — some 150,000 of whom served in Afghanistan — Steinmeier spoke of the sacrifices made by the armed forces, of “hope and disillusionment,” and the very different things that Afghanistan means to German society at large and to those who served in the armed forces there, DW reported.

After lamenting the fact that Germany failed to meet its larger political aim in Afghanistan, the president called for “more honest, clever and stronger foreign and security policy” in the future.

In closing, he said: “We need a strong Bundeswehr — our partners expect it and our army deserves it. You are committed to your country and your country is committed to you. That is an agreement that must be honored — and it is.”

Germany’s Defense Ministry says the mission — the longest in the army’s over-65-year history — cost at least €12.5 billion ($14.6 billion) in combat and training operations. Germany was one of the alliance’s biggest contributors of troops, DW reported.

Currently, the Bundeswehr is involved in 11 missions abroad, with 2,500 soldiers on three continents.