The last troops of the United States have left Afghanistan after the Taliban have conquered the country. The militant group had warned of dire consequences and after about 20 years, the US troops have left Afghanistan. The move brought an end to the longest war and the biggest non-combatant evacuation movement in the U.S. military history. A formal announcement was made by Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie the commander of the U.S. Central Command.
McKenzie added that the withdrawal of the troops has marked the end of the military evacuation and the 20 year old mission that started off in Afghanistan in September 2001. The Marine Gen added that the mission had helped to bring a just end to Osama Bin Laden and a number of his co-conspirators from Al-Qaida. He continued to inform that the mission was pretty expensive and costed 2,461 U.S. service members and civilians with more than 20,000 injured.
They also included 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives due to an ISIS-K suicide bomber. The U.S. troops in Afghanistan had received threats from the Islamic state Khorasan or ISISI-K, that is a terrorist group in Afghanistan. The United States along with the coalition forces had speed up the evacuation process of the people in a huge airlift operation that included more than 6,000 Americans. Antony Blinken, the Secretary State on August 30, 2021 informed that nearly 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan and want to leave.
Blinken has promised that the U.S. will continue to make efforts to gets those Americans out of the country soon. He also assured that Americans who now wish to stay back but change their mind after a few weeks, even then they would help them to leave. President Joe Biden released a statement and thanked the Americans for the sacrifices made by them during this phase. He is expected to address the end of the conflict in a speech on August 31, 2021.
Photo Credits: Reuters
