WASHINGTON: The us said on Monday it had completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan following a chaotic airlift nearly 20 years after it had invaded the country within the wake of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
More than 122,000 people are flown out of Kabul since Aug 14, the day before the Taliban regained control of the country.
The chief US diplomat in Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, was on the last C-17 flight out, Marine General Frank McKenzie, the top folks Central Command, told a Pentagon news briefing.
The emergency air evacuation came to an end 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 earlier this year to finish the pullout.
A senior Taliban official said “we have made history”, as celebratory gunfire rang out across the Afghan capital after the last US troops pulled out.
“We made history again. The 20-year occupation of Afghanistan by the us and Nato ended tonight,” said Anas Haqqani, a senior official within the Taliban movement, during a tweet. “I am very happy that after 20 years of jihad, sacrifices & hardships I even have this pride to ascertain these historic moments.”
The us and its Western allies scrambled to save lots of citizens of their own countries also as translators, local embassy staff, civil rights activists, journalists and other Afghans susceptible to reprisals.
The evacuations became even more perilous when a suicide bomb attack on Thursday claimed by the militant Islamic State group — enemy of both the West and therefore the Taliban — killed 13 US service members and many Afghans waiting by the airport gates.
Biden, who faced intense criticism reception and abroad over his decisions, promised after the Kabul airport attack to seek out the people responsible.
Tuesday’s deadline for all troops to go away was ordered by President Biden, fulfilling an agreement reached by his predecessor Donald Trump with the Taliban to finish the US longest war. But having did not anticipate that the Taliban would so quickly take over the country, Washington and its Nato allies were forced into a hasty evacuation.
The US and its allies have mounted the most important air evacuation in history, bringing 114,000 of their own citizens and Afghans who helped them over 20 years of war in Afghanistan, but they’re going to still leave behind thousands of Afghans who helped Western countries and may need qualified for evacuation.
On Monday morning, two US officials said the “core” diplomatic staff had withdrawn.
Attack on airport
The US anti-missile defences intercepted multiple rockets fired at Kabul’s airport early Monday because the us flew its core diplomats out of Afghanistan within the final hours of its chaotic withdrawal before the Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden for complete pullout.
Initial reports didn’t indicate any American casualties from as many as five missiles fired on the airport whose responsibility was claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group three days after a terrorist had killed many Afghans and 13 US troops outside the teeming airport gates.
While Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called the threat to Kabul airport “real” and “specific”, the Taliban believe the exit of foreign forces would stop IS attacks, with its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warning that if they created a situation for war, the Taliban would affect them. “We hope that those Afghans who are influenced by IS… will hand over their operations on seeing the formation of an Islamic government within the absence of foreigners,” Mujahid said.
However, the group of nations that have banded together claiming to fight IS, including the US, released a press release pledging to figure to eliminate the group and taking special aim at its affiliate in Afghanistan that took responsibility for Monday’s rocket attack on Kabul airport.
“We will draw on all elements of national power military, intelligence, diplomatic, economic, enforcement to make sure the defeat of this brutal terrorist group ,” the coalition said during a statement released by the US State Department, which also said the countries would “identify and convey their members to justice.”
Also, Washington in recent days warned of more attacks, while completing two air strikes against the ‘IS targets’ including the one on Sunday to thwart an ‘attempted suicide bombing’ by berating an ‘explosive-laden car’.
Also on Saturday, officials announced that two IS ‘plotter and facilitator’ were killed during a US drone strike on their vehicle within the Nangarhar area bordering Pakistan.
After the rocket attack on the airport, IS claimed responsibility consistent with the group’s Nasher News on its Telegram channel. “By the grace of Godhead , the soldiers of the Caliphate targeted Kabul International Airport with six Katyusha rockets,” the IS stated.
Also, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the threat to Kabul airport remains “real” and “specific”. “We’re during a particularly dangerous time immediately ,” Kirby told reporters. “The threat stream remains real, it’s still active, and in many cases it’s still specific.”
Retaliatory or pre-emptive strikes by the US on the IS positions within the recent few days have angered the Taliban also. “There is not any permission for them to try to to such operations… our independence must be respected,” Mujahid said.
