US military transport takes off from Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul. (photo: Alzajeera)

General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, said a C-17 military transport plane carrying the last US troops took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul before midnight Monday. 

Biggest troop withdrawal and people evacuation in decades

More than 123,000 American citizens, other foreigners, and Afghanis were evacuated from Kabul by the US-led airlift operation which began on August 15, one day after the Taliban swept into the capital.

Before completing its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US military destroyed, deactivated, or just abandoned a vast array of military equipment and weapons. They disabled 73 military aircraft, 70 MRAP armored tactical vehicles, 30 Humvees, and 2 C-RAM air-defense systems.

The US closed its diplomatic office in Kabul and moved it to Qatar. Ambassador Ross Wilson was one of the last people to leave Kabul on the last flight.

President Joe Biden has fulfilled the promise he made last year during his presidential campaign to bring all American troops home from Afghanistan after 20 years of a war that has killed 2,500 American servicemen, including 13 who died in a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai Airport five days ago.

Despite receiving help from allies, the US army could not evacuate everyone they had hoped to. General Kenneth McKenzie said hundreds of American citizens are stranded in Afghanistan. He said that even if the army had stayed another 10 days, they wouldn't have gotten everybody out that they wanted to get out.

A difficult beginning for Afghanistan

A few hours after the last flight took off, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a new chapter has begun in Afghanistan. He asked the Taliban to honor its pledge to permit freedom of travel, uphold the basic rights of women and ethnic minorities, and not allow Afghanistan to be used as a refuge for terrorists.

The Taliban announced that it has made history and called the withdrawal of US forces a ‘historic moment’. On Monday night they celebrated their victory in Kabul and many other Afghan cities.

The global community has called for action to prevent terrorism and extremism growing out of control once again in Afghanistan, head off a prolonged war between the Taliban and opposition forces in the Panjshir region, and persuade the Taliban to mitigate its imposition of strict Sharia law.

Meanwhile, a humanitarian crisis is looming, with nearly half of the Afghani population in urgent need of food, and relief operations hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of public security.