KABUL: After nearly 20 years, the US military left Bagram Airfield, the epicentre of its war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the Al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, two US officials said on Friday.
The airfield was handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defence Force in its entirety, they said on condition they not be identified because they were not authorised to release the information to the media. One of the officials also said the US top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin S Miller, “still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces”.
The withdrawal from Bagram base is the clearest indication that the last of the 2,500-3,500 US troops have left Afghanistan or are nearing a departure, months ahead of President Joe Biden’s promise that they would be gone by September 11. It was clear soon after the mid-April announcement that the US was ending its “forever war”, that the departure of US soldiers and their estimated 7,000 NATO allies would be nearer to July 4, when America celebrates its Independence Day.