Germany pledges 17 billion AFN during virtual meeting

The Afghan government and the Federal Republic of Germany met virtually on Tuesday to discuss development cooperation.

During the meeting, the German government pledged 182.6 million euros (about 17.4 billion Afghanis) to the Afghan government for bilateral cooperation.

Leading the Afghan delegation was Nazir Kabiri, Deputy Minister of Finance, while Claudia Warning, Director General of the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Southeast Europe and Eastern Europe Department of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), led the German delegation, read a statement issued by German Cooperation for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The conference was held for the second time virtually due to the coronavirus.

The meeting coincided with the announcement by Germany that it had completed the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a statement: “After nearly 20 years of deployment, the last soldiers of our Bundeswehr have left Afghanistan this evening.”

“They are on the way back,” she said.

“A historic chapter comes to an end, an intensive deployment that challenged and shaped the Bundeswehr, in which the Bundeswehr proved itself in combat,” she added.