Crystalline fiberlike diode-pumped laser systems offer a convenient way to obtain compact, robust, and efficient operation whenever long active media are required. One of these cases is the diode-pumped ${\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}\text{:}\mathrm{YAG}$ laser emitting at $1.6\mathrm{\mu m}$ , where long crystals are needed to avoid the upconversion processes. By resonantly pumping the ${}^4{I}_{13/2}$ level around $1.53\mathrm{\mu m}$ , and by confining the pump radiation into the crystal by total internal reflection, a maximum output power of $14.5\mathrm{W}$ in cw mode is reached when pumped with ~40 W of absorbed power. In Q-switching mode, pulse energies of more than $8\mathrm{mJ}$ were obtained at a repetition rate of $90\mathrm{Hz}$ , limited by coating damage.