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The Pentagon announced on Monday that the last US military aircraft had left the Afghan capital. After chaotic evacuation efforts, the 20-year war in Afghanistan officially ended.
General Kenneth MacKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, stated that since August 14, shortly before the Taliban took control of the city, the United States had evacuated 79,000 people from Kabul, including 6,000 American citizens.
Mackenzie told reporters at a Pentagon press conference: “I am here to announce that we have completed the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.”
“Tonight’s evacuation means the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11, 2001.”
The Taliban took over Afghanistan after launching a heavy offensive earlier this month and arrived in Kabul on August 15 President Ashraf Ghani fled the country The government army collapsed.
However, the U.S. military still controls the airport as they work to evacuate U.S. citizens, third-country nationals, and Afghan allies — and meet Deadline for withdrawal on August 31 Set by President Joe Biden.
“Now every American soldier has left Afghanistan. I can say with absolute certainty,” McKenzie said on Monday.
The general added that the U.S. military’s withdrawal began on August 14, assuming that the Afghan security forces will become “willing and capable” partners, but the Taliban took over the capital a day later. At that time, Washington began to coordinate evacuation with the organization.
“It is important to understand that within 48 hours of the execution order, the situation on the ground has changed significantly,” McKenzie said. “We have moved from security cooperation with long-term partners and allies to establishing necessary pragmatic relationships with long-term enemies.”
The Biden administration stated that after the withdrawal is complete, it remains committed to helping people leave Afghanistan.
Al Jazeera reporter Gabriel Elizondo reported in Washington, D.C. He said that MacKenzie was very “candid” at the briefing. He told reporters that the Taliban had been “very helpful and useful” in the past few days. Especially to help protect airport security.
“Frankly, he appreciated the Taliban and their efforts,” he said. “But he did say that the U.S. did not coordinate with the Taliban at all in terms of the exact time and date when the last plane left the airport.”
In the past few weeks, Chaotic scene The outbreak at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as desperate Afghans who were afraid of Taliban suppression attempted to leave the country triggered widespread criticism of the Biden administration.
The attack at the airport last week Killed at least 175 people, including dozens of Afghan civilians and 13 American soldiers, and prompted A warning More potentially violent incidents may occur in Biden’s last few days of withdrawal. The Islamic State in ISKP (ISIS-K) in Khorasan Province claimed that there was a fatal bombing on Thursday.
Biden “stands by side” and exits
After the 9/11 attacks in Washington and New York, Washington led the International Alliance of Partners to invade Afghanistan in 2001. The Taliban, which controls Kabul, have been harboring Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The American army quickly took over the country, but in the next 20 years they worked hard to defeat the Taliban’s guerrilla warfare.
As war became increasingly unpopular in the United States, former President Donald Trump Reached an agreement with the Taliban Last year, this will ensure the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
The agreement also stipulates that the Afghan authorities will “prevent any international terrorist organization or individual from using Afghan territory to endanger the security of the United States and its allies” and calls on the Taliban to conduct “intra-Afghan dialogue” with the Kabul government. .
Biden, who took office in January, continued to advance the withdrawal plan, emphasizing that the Afghan army has the number, training and equipment to fight the Taliban. But at the beginning of August, as the U.S. withdrawal deadline approaches, Provincial capital cities begin to fall into the hands of the Taliban The Afghan security forces hardly resisted.
Asfandyar Mir, an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, called the U.S. withdrawal a “historic moment” in the post-9/11 era.
“From a US perspective, this is one of the lowest points of US foreign policy and national security in recent memory,” he said, referring to the rapid collapse and chaotic withdrawal of the Afghan government.
Mill told Al Jazeera: “I think all of this is very humiliating, it is inevitable.”
Earlier Monday, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Biden does not regret However, the decision was withdrawn.
“The President supports his decision to bring our men and women home from Afghanistan, because if he hadn’t…we might send tens of thousands, or at least thousands of troops, to return to dangerous situations, risk more lives and more. Human danger fight a war that Afghans don’t want to fight on their own,” Psaki said.
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