US Announces Completion Of Afghanistan Withdrawal

(CNN)The last US military planes have left Afghanistan,
Commander of US Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie announced
Monday at the Pentagon. The US departure marks the end of a
fraught, chaotic and bloody exit from the United States’ longest
war.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from
Afghanistan, and the end of the military mission to evacuate
American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable
Afghans,” McKenzie told reporters. “The last C-17 lifted off from
Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30th, this afternoon,
at 3:29 p.m. East Coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now
clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.”

The departure marks the first time in nearly two decades that
the US and its allies have not had troops on the ground in
Afghanistan and — after $2 trillion in spending and nearly 2,000 US
troops killed in action — the pullout raises questions about the
utility of a war that saw the service of parents and then their
grown children.

With no US diplomats remaining in the country a senior State
Department official said that they expected the US Embassy in Kabul
to suspend embassy operations upon the end of the military
retrograde but said “that doesn’t mean that we are suspending any
commitments to American citizens in Afghanistan, to at risk
Afghans, to the Afghan people.”

The official said that they expected the US Embassy in Kabul to
suspend embassy operations upon the end of the military retrograde,
but said “that doesn’t mean that we are suspending any commitments
to American citizens in Afghanistan, to at risk Afghans, to the
Afghan people.”

Nearly 20 years after the US invaded Afghanistan to avenge the
terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and strike at al Qaeda and
the Taliban, which hosted Osama bin Laden, another American
administration is leaving the country in the control of Taliban
militants who still maintain close ties to al Qaeda and other
terrorist organizations.

Even as Biden pulls the US from the country, Afghanistan looks
likely to shadow him politically and engage him militarily — on
Monday, White House officials said the President is continuing the
hunt for terrorists in the country, telling his military commanders
to “stop at nothing” to avenge the deaths of 13 US service members
at Kabul airport last week.

As of Monday, more than 122,000 people had been airlifted from
Hamid Karzai International Airport since July, Pentagon spokesman
John Kirby told reporters, including 5,400 Americans.

A senior State Department official said the department believes
there are fewer than 250 American citizens currently in Afghanistan
who may wish to leave, as US officials stressed a Taliban
commitment to let Afghans leave the country after the US and
allies’ withdrawal. The State Department official put the number of
American citizens who have left the country through evacuation
flights or other means closer to 6,000.

“We believe there’s still a small number who remain, and we’re
trying to determine exactly how many,” the official told reporters
Monday. “We are going through manifests of people who have
departed, we are calling and texting and WhatsApping and emailing
our lists, in an effort to have a more concrete figure regarding
how many Americans may remain.”

In the 24 hours leading up to Monday morning, 26 military C-17
aircraft lifted off from Kabul carrying 1,200 evacuees, according
to Gen. Hank Taylor, the deputy director of regional operations for
the Joint Staff, who spoke alongside Kirby at a Pentagon briefing
earlier Monday. In total, 28 flights departed from Kabul airport in
that 24-hour window, Taylor said.

In the same 24-hour period, the US conducted a drone strike that
killed multiple civilians, including children, the Kabul airport
was targeted by rocket fire, and military officials continued to
warn of active, specific threats to the evacuation effort.

The “threat stream is still real. It’s still active, and, in
many cases, it’s still specific,” Kirby said at the Monday morning
briefing when asked if another attack on the airport was still
likely. Taylor added that military operations were continuing with
a focus on the security of the US troops in Kabul, and the military
would have capability to evacuate Afghans until the very end.

“We’re taking it very seriously and we will right up until the
end,” Kirby said.

Along with the military exit, the US is pulling out all
diplomatic representation, leaving open the question of whether it
will formally recognize the Taliban as the rulers of
Afghanistan.

The formal military and diplomatic “retrograde” is ending even
as the US leaves behind Americans, some of whom did not want to
leave and others who may have already left, according to State
Department officials, as well as vulnerable Afghans who worked for
the US military and now face possible Taliban retaliation.

That tragically unfinished business will become part of the
broader political challenge that Biden faces as he enters the
second half of his first year in office. As a devastating hurricane
batters the South and the Covid-19 pandemic once again gains
traction, Biden is also facing calls for an accounting of the
Afghanistan withdrawal.

The airlift, which started as a seemingly haphazard and hastily
organized effort, was scarred by the deaths of 13 service members
last week and the death sentence hanging over Afghan translators
who helped US troops and diplomats but were unable to escape the
country. In addition, Biden’s decision to leave will be shadowed by
questions about whether and how well the threat of terrorism
emanating from Afghanistan has really been addressed.

The President has already committed to prolonging some US
engagement with Afghanistan, telling his military commanders that
they should “stop at nothing” to make ISIS pay for the service
members’ deaths, Psaki said Monday.
I can tell you that the President has made clear to his commanders
that they should stop at nothing to make ISIS pay for the deaths of
those American service members at the Kabul airport,” Psaki said at
a White House press briefing.

Sunday’s drone strike, targeting a suspected car bomb headed to
the airport, killed nine members of one family, including six
children, according to a relative of those killed who spoke to a
local journalist working with CNN. US Central Command, which
oversees US military missions throughout the region, had said
earlier they were assessing the possibilities of civilian
casualties.

As the US presence drew to a messy close, Blinken convened an
international ministerial on Afghanistan, meeting virtually with
members of the coalition present in Afghanistan and other allies
and the United Nations Security Council met in New York.

The UN body was briefed on the latest news out of Afghanistan
after France and Germany proposed a Security Council resolution
“calling for safe passage for those leaving Afghanistan,” that
would include counterterrorism, human rights and humanitarian
elements, diplomats told CNN over the weekend.

© 2021 Cable News Network.

(CNN)The last US military planes have left Afghanistan,
Commander of US Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie announced
Monday at the Pentagon. The US departure marks the end of a
fraught, chaotic and bloody exit from the United States’ longest
war.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from
Afghanistan, and the end of the military mission to evacuate
American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable
Afghans,” McKenzie told reporters. “The last C-17 lifted off from
Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30th, this afternoon,
at 3:29 p.m. East Coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now
clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.”

The departure marks the first time in nearly two decades that
the US and its allies have not had troops on the ground in
Afghanistan and — after $2 trillion in spending and nearly 2,000 US
troops killed in action — the pullout raises questions about the
utility of a war that saw the service of parents and then their
grown children.

With no US diplomats remaining in the country a senior State
Department official said that they expected the US Embassy in Kabul
to suspend embassy operations upon the end of the military
retrograde but said “that doesn’t mean that we are suspending any
commitments to American citizens in Afghanistan, to at risk
Afghans, to the Afghan people.”

The official said that they expected the US Embassy in Kabul to
suspend embassy operations upon the end of the military retrograde,
but said “that doesn’t mean that we are suspending any commitments
to American citizens in Afghanistan, to at risk Afghans, to the
Afghan people.”

Nearly 20 years after the US invaded Afghanistan to avenge the
terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and strike at al Qaeda and
the Taliban, which hosted Osama bin Laden, another American
administration is leaving the country in the control of Taliban
militants who still maintain close ties to al Qaeda and other
terrorist organizations.

Even as Biden pulls the US from the country, Afghanistan looks
likely to shadow him politically and engage him militarily — on
Monday, White House officials said the President is continuing the
hunt for terrorists in the country, telling his military commanders
to “stop at nothing” to avenge the deaths of 13 US service members
at Kabul airport last week.

As of Monday, more than 122,000 people had been airlifted from
Hamid Karzai International Airport since July, Pentagon spokesman
John Kirby told reporters, including 5,400 Americans.

A senior State Department official said the department believes
there are fewer than 250 American citizens currently in Afghanistan
who may wish to leave, as US officials stressed a Taliban
commitment to let Afghans leave the country after the US and
allies’ withdrawal. The State Department official put the number of
American citizens who have left the country through evacuation
flights or other means closer to 6,000.

“We believe there’s still a small number who remain, and we’re
trying to determine exactly how many,” the official told reporters
Monday. “We are going through manifests of people who have
departed, we are calling and texting and WhatsApping and emailing
our lists, in an effort to have a more concrete figure regarding
how many Americans may remain.”

In the 24 hours leading up to Monday morning, 26 military C-17
aircraft lifted off from Kabul carrying 1,200 evacuees, according
to Gen. Hank Taylor, the deputy director of regional operations for
the Joint Staff, who spoke alongside Kirby at a Pentagon briefing
earlier Monday. In total, 28 flights departed from Kabul airport in
that 24-hour window, Taylor said.

In the same 24-hour period, the US conducted a drone strike that
killed multiple civilians, including children, the Kabul airport
was targeted by rocket fire, and military officials continued to
warn of active, specific threats to the evacuation effort.

The “threat stream is still real. It’s still active, and, in
many cases, it’s still specific,” Kirby said at the Monday morning
briefing when asked if another attack on the airport was still
likely. Taylor added that military operations were continuing with
a focus on the security of the US troops in Kabul, and the military
would have capability to evacuate Afghans until the very end.

“We’re taking it very seriously and we will right up until the
end,” Kirby said.

Along with the military exit, the US is pulling out all
diplomatic representation, leaving open the question of whether it
will formally recognize the Taliban as the rulers of
Afghanistan.

The formal military and diplomatic “retrograde” is ending even
as the US leaves behind Americans, some of whom did not want to
leave and others who may have already left, according to State
Department officials, as well as vulnerable Afghans who worked for
the US military and now face possible Taliban retaliation.

That tragically unfinished business will become part of the
broader political challenge that Biden faces as he enters the
second half of his first year in office. As a devastating hurricane
batters the South and the Covid-19 pandemic once again gains
traction, Biden is also facing calls for an accounting of the
Afghanistan withdrawal.

The airlift, which started as a seemingly haphazard and hastily
organized effort, was scarred by the deaths of 13 service members
last week and the death sentence hanging over Afghan translators
who helped US troops and diplomats but were unable to escape the
country. In addition, Biden’s decision to leave will be shadowed by
questions about whether and how well the threat of terrorism
emanating from Afghanistan has really been addressed.

The President has already committed to prolonging some US
engagement with Afghanistan, telling his military commanders that
they should “stop at nothing” to make ISIS pay for the service
members’ deaths, Psaki said Monday.
I can tell you that the President has made clear to his commanders
that they should stop at nothing to make ISIS pay for the deaths of
those American service members at the Kabul airport,” Psaki said at
a White House press briefing.

Sunday’s drone strike, targeting a suspected car bomb headed to
the airport, killed nine members of one family, including six
children, according to a relative of those killed who spoke to a
local journalist working with CNN. US Central Command, which
oversees US military missions throughout the region, had said
earlier they were assessing the possibilities of civilian
casualties.

As the US presence drew to a messy close, Blinken convened an
international ministerial on Afghanistan, meeting virtually with
members of the coalition present in Afghanistan and other allies
and the United Nations Security Council met in New York.

The UN body was briefed on the latest news out of Afghanistan
after France and Germany proposed a Security Council resolution
“calling for safe passage for those leaving Afghanistan,” that
would include counterterrorism, human rights and humanitarian
elements, diplomats told CNN over the weekend.

© 2021 Cable News Network.