"After nearly 20 years of deployment, the last soldiers of our Bundeswehr have left Afghanistan this evening," said German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in a statement.

"They are on the way back. A historic chapter is closing," she added.

On Twitter, the minister offered her thanks to all the 150,000 men and women who had served there since 2001, saying they could be proud of their service.

And she paid tribute to those killed and wounded in service there. "You will not be forgotten," she said.

According to the army, 59 German soldiers have been killed since 2001 in the course of their service in Afghanistan.

The last of the troops were airlifted out of their base at Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan on two German A400 Ms and two US C17s.

Before the pull-out began, Germany still had 1,100 soldiers operating as part of the 9,600-strong NATO training and support mission -- second only to the US military presence.

Germany stepped up its pull-out after US President Joe Biden announced he was pulling US troops out of the country after 20 years there.

Biden aims to have his troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the devastating Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States.