the last plane took off from Kabul

The last American military plane took off this Monday from Afghanistan and thus put an end to the chaotic and bloody departure of American forces from this country. after 20 years of war.

“I am here to announce the end of our mission in Afghanistan”said General Kenneth McKenzie, Commander of the United States Central Command. It will be a phrase that will go down in history as the end of the longest war the United States has ever fought.

“The last C-17 took off at 3:29 p.m.”, detailed the general, one minute before midnight from Kabul.

The plane’s departure took place at the end of the agreed-upon date of August 31 (Afghan time) and marks the first time in nearly two decades that the United States and its allies they no longer have troops in southern afghanistan, after $ 2,000 billion in spending and over 2,000 American casualties.

This happens after a dramatic evacuation of more than 100,000 citizens Americans, foreigners and Afghans who had cooperated with Western forces, including a terrorist attack that killed 13 American soldiers and more than 170 Afghan civilians near the airport.

Shortly after the last plane left, the Taliban celebrated by shooting into the air in the middle of the night. “We made history. Twenty years of occupation of Afghanistan by the United States and NATO ended tonight, ”Anas Haqqani, leader of the Islamist movement, said on Twitter.

The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was agreed with the Taliban by the government of Donald Trump, which began withdrawing its troops last year. President Joe Biden continued the initiative, determined to end a 20-year war that began after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

But, as US troops and their allies on Afghan soil retreated, the Taliban advanced and recaptured all of the territory and even the capital with dizzying ease. Within days, Kabul fell under the yoke of the Taliban and the president fled.

At full speed, the dramatic process of evacuating Westerners who feared being assassinated by the new regime began and images from Kabul airport traveled the world, with thousands desperate to climb into the mountains. planes.

What many feared happened: A terrorist attack outside the airfield on Thursday killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 members of the US military, whose bodies arrived on US soil over the weekend, in a postcard of mourning for Biden’s leadership.

Still, the president continued with his retirement plans for August 31, despite bombarding the positions of ISIS K, the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the attacks, with drones.

The US ambassador to Afghanistan and the commander of US military forces on Afghan soil were the last to board the final Kabul evacuation flight, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon also said the US embassy in Kabul should suspend operations, but that did not mean it was suspending “all engagement with US citizens in Afghanistan or with Afghans at risk.”

“There is a lot of sadness in this outing. We didn’t let out all the people we wanted to go out”, McKenzie admitted, claiming that “a few hundred” American citizens still remained in Afghanistan, and he believed they could still leave the country.

“Tonight’s withdrawal means the end of the military part of the evacuation, but also the end of the mission that began almost 20 years ago in Afghanistan, shortly after September 11, 2001,” he said. declared.

The general recalled that it was “a mission which put an end to Osama bin Laden, in the company of his collaborators of Al-Qaeda”.

“It was not a cheap mission. The cost was 2,461 American soldiers and civilians killed and over 20,000 wounded,” he said.

He explained that since August 14, a day before the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, more than 79,000 civilians have been evacuated on US military flights from Hamid Karzai International Airport, including 6,000 Americans.

With the flights of the international coalition, the figure rises to more than 123,000 evacuated civilians.

Despite the completion of the withdrawal, McKenzie assured that the United States would “always” reserve the right to attack targets of Al Qaeda or the Islamic State terrorist group ISIS if necessary.

The final departure of Western troops took place in a climate of violence. Five rockets were fired at the airport in the early hours of Monday and one was intercepted by US defenses. Another hit the perimeter without damaging the planes and three more fell outside the airport.

Meanwhile, the United States has launched an investigation to determine whether Sunday’s drone attack killed civilians – including children – in a neighborhood near the airport, several witnesses claimed.