Last US Troops Leave Afghanistan After Massive Air Evacuation

Marine General McKenzie arrives at Kabul airport, Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Capt. William Urban/US Central Command Public Affairs US Navy)

JAKARTA - The United States carried out its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday, August 30, with the remaining troops and core diplomatic staff, after the troops had been there for 20 years, following the September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacks.

US Military Command Center (Centcom) commander General Frank McKenzie used the term 'heartbreak' to describe the emotions surrounding the departure of US troops from this longest war.

“There has been a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We didn't get everyone out that we wanted," McKenzie said.

The US diplomat in Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, was on the last C-17 military transport flight from Kabul airport at 11.59pm. He was with the general commander of the US military's 82nd Airborne Division.

More than 122,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since August 14, the day before the Taliban regained control of the country.

"But I think if we had just 10 days left, we wouldn't have kicked everyone out," McKenzie said.

As US troops left, the Taliban had destroyed more than 70 planes, dozens of armored vehicles, and crippled air defenses that had thwarted ISIS rocket attacks on the eve of the US departure.

Failing to anticipate the Taliban would win so quickly, Washington and its NATO allies were forced out immediately, leaving thousands of Afghans to help them and possibly qualify for evacuation and others who felt threatened.

The emergency air evacuation ended a minute before a Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden, who inherited a troop withdrawal deal made with the Taliban by his predecessor, Donald Trump, and decided to complete the withdrawal without preconditions.

Biden's decision has caused the biggest crisis of his fledgling presidency and raised widespread questions about the ability of Western democracies to build lasting institutions in their image abroad, and their future willingness to do so.

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has drawn comparisons to the capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese forces in 1975 and rocked the generation of US veterans who served there and watched the war's final days sadly.

Biden, in a statement, praised US troops for carrying out the largest airlift in US history with unmatched courage, professionalism and determination.

"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan is over," he said.

Nearly 2,500 Americans died in the conflict, including 13 soldiers in last week's suicide bombing by ISIS outside the airport. Many of them were babies when the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred.