Afghanistan mission: Kramp-Karrenbauer thanks soldiers

Enlarge image

Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer at the Wunstorf Air Base near Hanover

Photo: FABIAN BIMMER / REUTERS

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) thanked the forces of the evacuation mission from Afghanistan for their hard work.

In conversations it became clear to her that the soldiers, the diplomats from Kabul and the police "saw and experienced incredible things and that they achieved incredible things," said Kramp-Karrenbauer on Friday evening at the Wunstorf air base near Hanover.

The men and women under the command of Brigadier General Jens Arlt, the commander of Airborne Brigade 1, received full confidence and "more than fulfilled this confidence and all the expectations we placed on them."

In her speech, Kramp Karrenbauer also remembered the victims of the "terrible" terrorist attack, "both the civilian victims and, of course, especially the American comrades with whom this operation was carried out side by side."

kim / dpa