Italy has completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, officials in Rome announced on Wednesday, ending a 20-year deployment as part of an accelerated withdrawal of NATO forces.

Members of the U.S.-backed alliance agreed in April to wrap up their 9,600-strong mission in Afghanistan after President Joe Biden decided to end Washington's longest war.

"Last night, the Italian mission in Afghanistan officially ended," Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said in a statement, after dozens of soldiers landed at Pisa's international airport from Herat in western Afghanistan.

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"However, the international community's commitment to Afghanistan, starting with Italy, does not end here. It will continue in other forms, from strengthening development cooperation to supporting Afghan republican institutions."

According to the ministry, 50,000 Italian soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan over the past 20 years after the 9/11 attacks prompted U.S. and NATO to invade. A study by Brown University in the U.S. showed around 241,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2001. More than 71,000 of those have been civilians.

Italy was one of the five countries most involved in Afghanistan along with Germany, Turkey, the UK and the U.S. as part of the operation called "Resolute Support Mission." The NATO-led non-combat mission aimed to train Afghan forces into ensuring their country's security after the departure of foreign soldiers.

Germany announced on Tuesday that all its troops had left Afghanistan, while the largest evacuation, that of the U.S., is still ongoing. The withdrawal has fueled fears the Taliban could regain power in the country.

Rome has begun the process of bringing to Italy those Afghan citizens who helped Italian forces during the deployment. The army has identified 270 eligible people while studying the cases of another 400. Eighty-two Afghans, most of them interpreters and their families, arrived at Rome's Fiumicino Airport on June 14.