The United States destroyed Eagle Base, the last CIA base in Afghanistan, to prevent the Taliban from keeping sensitive equipment or information

A US-controlled detonation heard across Kabul destroyed Eagle Base, the last CIA outpost outside Kabul airport, confirmed to The New York Times American officials.

As they explained to the American newspaper, the blasting of the base was to ensure that no equipment or information fell into the hands of the Taliban.

The Eagle base, which began operating at the start of the war in a former brickyard, was used throughout the conflict. It has grown from a small outpost to a sprawling center used to train the counterterrorism forces of Afghan intelligence agencies.

“It was an exceptional unit,” said Mick Mulroy, a former CIA officer who served in Afghanistan. “They have been one of the primary means the Afghan government has used to keep the Taliban at bay over the past 20 years. They were the last to fight and suffered heavy losses ”.

Local Afghans knew little about the base. As detailed NOW, the complex was extremely secure and designed to be almost impossible to enter. Walls up to 10 feet high surrounded the compound and a thick metal door opened and closed quickly to allow vehicles to pass.

Once inside, cars had to pass through three external security checkpoints where documents were searched and examined before being allowed into the base.

Although the destruction of the base came after the ISIS-K bombing of Kabul airport that killed some 170 Afghans and 13 US servicemen, it had already been planned in advance. However, its detonation, hours after the attack, alarmed many people in Kabul, who feared it was another terrorist attack.

The official US mission in Afghanistan to evacuate US citizens and their Afghan allies will end next Tuesday. According to the White House and the Pentagon, there could be more bloodshed before the deadline. The next few days “will be our most dangerous time yet” in the evacuation, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Thursday’s attack – which is attributed to the Afghan branch of ISIS, an enemy of both the Taliban and the West – was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks the country has seen. The United States said it was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since 2011.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan two decades after being dethroned in a US-led invasion in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. His return to power terrified many Afghans, who rushed to flee the country before the US withdrawal.

Who will run Kabul airport after the departure of US forces? This issue is vital for the new Afghan Taliban rulers, but also for Western countries which are still waiting to evacuate foreigners and Afghans.

In just four days, on September 1, Hamid Karzai International Airport will be in the hands of die-hard Islamists, who already claimed on Friday to have taken “control” of certain areas of the military part of the installations.

“We will be leaving on August 31. On that date, we will return the airport to the Afghan people, ”State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday, ending speculation that the terminal could remain in international hands.

But while the Afghan government collapsed in the face of the Taliban’s advance on Kabul, the former insurgents, now in power, have yet to form a government.

“Managing an airport is not a simple matter,” Price said. “I think it may not be reasonable to expect normal airport operations on September 1.”

The idea that the airport could be closed temporarily was raised on Wednesday by his boss, Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He said countries in the region had made “very active efforts” to help keep it open “or, where appropriate, reopen it if it is closed for a period of time.”

Blinken insisted that the fate of the airport is important to the Taliban, who apparently no longer want to be the head of a pariah regime, as happened between 1996 and 2001.

But the airport is also important for Western countries that want to be able to get their citizens out of Afghanistan, as well as the thousands of Afghan allies who cannot be evacuated by the US-led airlift until the 31st. August. So far, NATO has played a central role: civilian alliance personnel have been tasked with air traffic control, fuel supply and communications, while military contingents from Turkey, states United, Great Britain and Azerbaijan were involved. responsible for security.

Faced with the imminent total withdrawal of international forces, it was thought for a time that perhaps Turkey would step in and retain responsibility for securing the perimeter of the airport. The hope was that the Taliban would accept the presence of a small force from Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation that is also part of NATO.

But once they took power, the Taliban repeatedly said they would not accept any foreign military presence in Afghanistan after August 31, and Turkish soldiers began to withdraw. However, negotiations continued on the diplomatic front.

After the first talks on Friday between Turkish officials and the Taliban in Kabul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that the Taliban now wants to oversee airport security, while giving Ankara the ability to manage logistics. “We will make a decision once calm reigns,” Erdogan said, saying Thursday’s suicide bombing outside the airport showed the complexity of the mission.

Besides Turkey, talks about the future of the airport have included Qatar and private operators, while the United States has said it is acting as a facilitator.

But the question of who will take over the airport is a delicate one. US officials say that beyond security concerns, the airport is in poor condition. In addition, according to them, apart from the US military, there are few entities in the world capable of seizing it overnight.

U.S. and Western air traffic experts have just completed an assessment of the airport to try to determine if commercial flights could resume quickly, Price said on Friday. Other officials are more blunt: There won’t be many airlines willing to fly to Kabul until the Taliban are able to offer security and infrastructure guarantees.