US forces leave Afghanistan despite warnings of looming war
US forces have left their main military base in Afghanistan – the hub for a 20-year mission against the Taliban and al Qaeda – in the clearest sign yet America’s longest war is ending.
The sprawling Bagram airfield, about 40 miles north of Kabul, is being handed over to the Afghan security forces in a symbol of the US military’s departure from a battlefield that’s still raging, amid warnings of a looming civil war.
US President Joe Biden said earlier this year all of between 2,500 to 3,500 US troops in Afghanistan would leave by 11 September, the anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on the United States in 2001 that prompted the US-led invasion in the first place.
However, it is clear the exit is happening at a much faster tempo, with expectations the majority of personnel will be out by around 4 July – this Sunday – as the US celebrates Independence Day.
A US official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying General Austin Miller, the top commander in Afghanistan, “still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces.”
Washington’s decision to leave by a calendar date regardless of the security conditions on the ground – which look increasingly dire – meant the end of a NATO operation also involving some 7,000 non-American forces, including 750 British service personnel.
Most have already returned home, with Germany and Italy announcing on Wednesday that their involvement had ended.