After the United States, Germany is also planning to pull out its troops from Afghanistan. Visiting German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere arrived in the town of Mazar-e-Sharif yesterday and discussed with the senior German Army Officers about the preparations in connection with the withdrawing of his country’s troops from Afghanistan.The phased pullout of Germany's troops from Afghanistan is expected to be completed by 2014. More than 5,000 German soldiers are deployed in the north Afghanistan. Germany is the third major contributor of troops to the NATO coalition, behind the United States and Britain. Germany plans to pull its first soldiers by the end of this year.