Status: 08/30/2021 11:00 p.m.
The US mission in Afghanistan has ended: the US has withdrawn its last soldiers from the airport in Kabul. This ends America’s longest war after almost 20 years.
The US military has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. “I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan,” said US General Kenneth McKenzie, who heads US Central Command Centcom, on a video link with journalists at the Pentagon. This also ends the military mission to evacuate Americans, allies and Afghans seeking protection. The last US military aircraft took off from Kabul airport one minute before midnight (local time).
The US and its allies had more than 120,000 civilians out of the country, McKenzie said. The Bundeswehr completed its evacuation mission on Thursday. But there are still tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan who want to flee the Taliban – most of them are Afghans. The USA and the Western partners have repeatedly emphasized that there should be the possibility of bringing people to safety even after the end of the mission.
Biden moved the withdrawal date to the front
US President Joe Biden announced in April that all US soldiers would be unconditionally withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11th at the latest. The date marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that sparked the US-led military operation in Afghanistan. As a result, NATO also announced that it would end its international mission. In July, Biden moved the full withdrawal date to August 31.
After Biden’s announcement, the Taliban’s triumphal march accelerated, the militant Islamists took over one provincial capital after another – the Afghan security forces often offered little or no resistance. On August 15, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled abroad, the Taliban marched into the Afghan capital Kabul without a fight and occupied the presidential palace. The US embassy was closed and the diplomats fled to the airport.
Airport under US control until the end
The airport in Kabul remained under the control of US troops even after the Taliban came to power. The US flew in 5,000 additional soldiers to secure the evacuations. US commanders coordinated with the Taliban. In an attack by the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) last Thursday, dozens of Afghans and 13 US soldiers were killed in front of the airport.