
3 min ago
Pentagon announces completion US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie. commander of US Central Command, announced the completion of US withdrawal from Afghanistan during a Pentagon news conference on Monday.
"I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals and vulnerable Afghans. The last C-17 lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30, this afternoon. at 3:29 pm East coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the space above Afghanistan," McKenzie said.
5 min ago
The last US military planes have left Afghanistan, marking the end of the United States’ longest war.
The last US military planes left Afghanistan with troops and the remaining core diplomatic staff, 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.
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 after $2 trillion in spending and nearly 2,000 US troops killed in action.
A senior State Department official said Monday that the State Department will not have civilians on the ground once the US military leaves Afghanistan. “We are not going to have civilians on the ground once the military has left,” they said.
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.”