The last US military plane took off from Kabul airport on Monday evening, one minute before midnight local time, ending the longest war in US history. The airlift disaster set up on August 15, after Kabul fell to the Taliban, ended 24 hours ahead of the date set by President Joe Biden. 1,200 people were evacuated during the day Monday, and some 116,000 people since the start of the operation. The Marines tasked with protecting the evacuation were the last to board a US Air Force C-17. After their departure, the Taliban took control of the airport, the last American enclave on Afghan soil. “
Our country is now completely independent,thanks to God
One of the spokespersons for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, commented on Twitter.
Read also August 31, 2021: America fades before the Taliban
General Frank McKenzie, head of Centcom, the operations staff, who had to negotiate with the Taliban to protect the perimeter of the airport, added that a number of American citizens, probably hundreds, have been left behind, believing that they will still be able to leave the country.
The Americans are also leaving behind at least 100,000 Afghans who may have qualified for an American visa, but who are now in an Afghanistan fully controlled by the Taliban.
Many of them are former interpreters of the US military, whose special visa process is underway, but who fear reprisals from former insurgents.
An Inglorious Intervention
The American operation in Afghanistan comes to an end less than 15 days before the 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States, and prompted the intervention.
After his inauguration, Joe Biden, who will speak on Tuesday, took up Donald Trump's promise to end an interminable war, according to the slogan of his predecessor.
Read also The retreat from Kabul, a rout that could be avoided
The long American intervention in Afghanistan ended inglorious and largely avoidable confusion, raising doubts as to the credibility of the United States, and its capacities of organization.
A congressional committee must examine the shortcomings and the unpreparedness of a withdrawal announced for months.
The original plan was to keep the US Embassy in Kabul protected by a force of around 650 US troops, including a contingent tasked with protecting the airport.
Washington planned to continue its aid to the Afghan government and its military.
But the collapse of Afghan forces and the government of Ashraf Ghani, and the speed with which the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, forced the United States to change its plans.
Forced to close their embassy, they had to urgently carry out an extraordinary airlift.
"20 years war"
Begun in confusion, with Afghans killed trying to cling to taking off planes, this evacuation was bloodied by a terrible bombing on August 26, when an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up in a gate to the airport compound, killing at least 169 Afghans and 13 Americans.
Read also Two weeks after the capture of Kabul, what happened to the Afghan National Army?
Speaking shortly after that attack, Biden maintained that ending the war was the right decision, saying it was high time for the United States to focus on threats emanating from other parts of the world. “
Ladies and gentlemen, it was time to end a 20-year war
,” Biden insisted. The other part of the US plan, aimed at preventing al-Qaida from re-establishing itself in Afghanistan and containing threats posed by other extremist groups such as the Afghan branch of the Islamic State, also seems a little compromised. While the Taliban are enemies of the Islamic State, they retain close ties to al-Qaida. The 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks will coincide with the victory of the Taliban and their jihadist allies.
