The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan has come to an end – shortly before midnight the last US military aircraft took off from Kabul airport. Tens of thousands of Afghans hope to still be able to leave the country.
It’s an unusual way of heralding the end of America’s longest war. The Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, President Joe Biden, did not do this himself on Monday, but sent one of his top generals to the front. In a short video link with journalists in the Pentagon, General Kenneth McKenzie, the US commander responsible for the region, said the momentous sentence on Monday afternoon, Washington time: “I am here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan.” This means that the loss-making military operation by the USA and its allies in the crisis country has ended after almost 20 years – and so has the military evacuation mission of the past two weeks.
Afghanistan is now once again heading for an uncertain future. And it is unclear what will become of those who could not get a place on one of the military evacuation fliers.
“We didn’t get everyone out that we wanted to get out”
At one minute before midnight Kabul time on late Monday, according to McKenzie, the last US military aircraft of the type C-17 took off from the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul. The Americans had previously remained silent about exactly how the security-technically delicate withdrawal of their very last soldiers would take place. The security situation was precarious until the very end: shortly before the withdrawal, the Afghan offshoot of the terrorist militia IS fired rockets at Kabul airport.
It was only after the last machine of the US military left Afghan airspace that the Pentagon published a picture of the “last American soldier” to leave Afghanistan. The photo shows – taken with a night vision device – how Major General Chris Donahue climbs the last C-17.
McKenzie emphasized that there was now not a single US soldier in Afghanistan. But he admitted that it had not been possible to fly out all the people who had been brought to safety. “We didn’t get everyone out that we wanted to get out.” You had the opportunity to evacuate more US citizens until the last moment. But some wouldn’t have made it to the airport.
More than 123,000 people flown out of Afghanistan
According to estimates by the US State Department, there are still between 100 and 200 Americans in Afghanistan who want to leave the country. Biden had promised all US citizens willing to leave Afghanistan to get them out of Afghanistan. After the troop withdrawal was concluded, the President and his Foreign Minister Antony Blinken assured that the US government would continue to do everything in its power to get backward Americans, as well as other foreigners and vulnerable Afghans, out of the country – now with diplomatic rather than military means. But how exactly this should happen is unclear.
After the Taliban came to power in mid-August, the US and its international partners began the military evacuation mission. McKenzie said during that time the US military alone flown more than 79,000 civilians from Kabul, including around 6,000 Americans. The United States and its allies have taken a total of more than 123,000 people out of the country. But there are still tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan who want to flee the Taliban – most of them are Afghans.
Blinken emphasized: “The military mission has ended. A new diplomatic mission has started.” However, it will be possible to control it remotely. Because with the withdrawal of US troops, the Americans also gave up their diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. On board the last military machine was Ross Wilson, the previous US ambassador to Afghanistan. Blinken said the US has now relocated its diplomatic activities to Qatar’s capital, Doha.
The Taliban responded with jubilation at the American withdrawal. Taliban spokesman Sabiullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter that the country has now achieved complete independence. High-ranking Taliban member Anas Hakkani tweeted: “We are making history again. The 20-year occupation of Afghanistan by the US and NATO ended tonight. God is great.”
US President Biden under fire
Foreign troops under US leadership marched into Afghanistan 20 years ago – in response to the terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001. The international deployment then led to the overthrow of the Taliban government, the al-Qaeda terrorists shelter had granted. The military operation devoured huge sums of money, tens of thousands of civilians and Afghan security forces were killed, as well as several thousand international soldiers, including 2,461 Americans. McKenzie stressed on Monday that the cost of the mission was high.
Biden initially only commented in a written statement in which he again defended his controversial decision to withdraw. The president announced an address to the nation only this Tuesday. It is telling that the Commander-in-Chief did not announce such a historic moment – the end of an extremely painful mission for the United States that spanned the terms of office of four presidents. Biden faces heavy criticism in view of the chaotic withdrawal. The Afghanistan debacle is the biggest foreign policy crisis of his presidency to date.
In April the Democrat announced that he would unconditionally withdraw all US soldiers from Afghanistan by September 11 at the latest – the 20th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. After Biden’s announcement, NATO announced that it would end the entire international operation in Afghanistan. In July, Biden finally moved the full withdrawal date to August 31.
The Taliban took over Kabul almost without a fight
In the past few weeks, events in Afghanistan came thick and fast: After Biden’s announcement, the Taliban’s triumphal march accelerated rapidly. 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 and the Taliban marched into Kabul without a fight. The US embassy was closed and the diplomats fled to the airport.
It was from there that the Americans and their allies completed their breathless evacuation mission – protected by several thousand additional US soldiers who were temporarily sent to Kabul. Last Thursday, dozens of Afghans and 13 US soldiers were killed in an attack by IS, which is hostile to the Taliban. America’s longest war ended in a particularly dire way.
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