NATO-Led Afghan Mission Cost Germany 8.8Bln Euros

Sputnik News

17:35 20.03.2015(updated 17:47 20.03.2015)

Germany's 12-year security mission in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has cost Berlin a total of 8.8 billion euros ($9.4 billion), according to German Defense Ministry estimates.

BERLIN (Sputnik) – The ministry's total cost for the operation that wrapped up in December 2014 was unveiled on Friday by German television channel ARD.

According to internal data, 54 German soldiers died in Afghanistan since 2002, making it the bloodiest foreign operation in the history of Bundeswehr, the country's armed forces.

The ministry sold, scrapped or handed over to Afghan forces and aid organizations some 28 million euros ($30 million) worth of equipment.

This sum includes 4 million euros' ($4.3 million) worth of destroyed military hardware that German troops chose to disassemble rather than risk it falling into the hands of Islamists. Berlin has made it clear that it did not give Afghan security forces any weapons for the same reason.

An additional 66.2 million euros ($71 million) was spent on the pullout operation that took 257 flights and 1,161 ground vehicles to withdraw personnel and hardware from the Central Asian country.

The ISAF pullout from Afghanistan started in 2014. As of June 2014, there were still 2,695 German servicemen present in the country. The withdrawal came amid fears that a lack of international participation would create a security vacuum in the region and allow an insurgency.

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