Celebrate US Army Departure With Gunfire, Taliban: We Gain Full Independence

US Marines pay their last respects to a comrade killed in a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan / Antara

JAKARTA - The United States completed its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday, August 30 to end a 20-year war that led to the Taliban's return to power in the country.

The US and its allies in NATO were forced out in a hurry. The evacuation process was chaotic and they left thousands of Afghans who had helped them and deserved to be evacuated.

The Taliban celebrate the departure of US troops with gunfire in Kabul.

"The last US soldiers have left Kabul airport and our country has gained complete independence", Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf told Al Jazeera TV, quoted by Reuters from Antara on Monday, August 30.

US President Joe Biden said the world would keep the Taliban's promise to ensure the safety of those wishing to leave Afghanistan.

"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan is over", Biden said, thanking the US military for carrying out the perilous evacuation mission.

He plans to deliver a speech to the American people on Tuesday afternoon.

The operation was completed before the Tuesday deadline set by Biden.

The decision to withdraw all troops on Aug. 31 has drawn sharp criticism from various quarters of Afghanistan's handling of Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of Kabul earlier this month.

General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, told the Pentagon that the chief US diplomat in Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, was on board the last C-17 plane.

“Every member of the US army is now out of Afghanistan. I can say that with 100 percent certainty", he said.

Two US officials said "core" diplomatic staff were among the 6,000 Americans who returned.

McKenzie added that the last flight did not include the 250 Americans who wanted to leave but couldn't reach the airport.

"There's a lot of sadness associated with this departure. We didn't bring everyone we wanted to get out. But I think if we had lasted another 10 days, we wouldn't have been able to get everyone out", McKenzie told reporters.

Dangerous evacuation

More than 122,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since August 14, the day before the Taliban retook power two decades ago when it was ousted by an invading US-led foreign force.

The Tuesday deadline for troop withdrawals was set by Biden. His predecessor, Donald Trump, had agreed with the Taliban to end US involvement in Afghanistan.

Biden said the United States had long achieved its target of toppling the Taliban in 2001 for harboring the al Qaeda insurgents who masterminded the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The US and its allies are rushing to rescue their citizens, local interpreters, local embassy staff, civil rights activists, journalists, and other citizens who are at risk of reprisals from the Taliban.

Evacuations were made even more dangerous when a suicide bombing attack recognized by ISIS killed 13 US troops and scores of Afghans waiting at the airport gates on Thursday.

After the bloody attack at Kabul's airport, Biden vowed to hunt down those responsible.

The final flight was made possible after the US anti-missile defense system intercepted a rocket fired at Kabul airport.

A US official said initial reports showed no US casualties from as many as five rockets fired.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.