New Delhi: The US has ended its evacuation mission, suspended diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, and shifted its diplomatic operations to Qatar, secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Monday. The US military has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end a brutal 20-year war, which has been America's longest.
"As of today, we've suspended our diplomatic presence in Kabul and transferred our operations to Doha, Qatar," Blinken said, adding that Congress would be notified, as quoted by PTI.
The last persons who boarded the final evacuation flight from Kabul on Monday were the commander of American military forces on the ground in Afghanistan and Washington’s ambassador.
“On the last airplane out was General Chris Donahue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and my ground force commander there," McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon. “And he was accompanied by Ambassador Ross Wilson."
McKenzie said they were the last on the ground at Kabul airport as the United States completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan. “The State and Defense team were, in fact, the last people to step on the airplane," the general said, as quoted by AP.
Celebratory gunfire rang out in Kabul in the early hours of Tuesday, and elated senior Taliban officials hailed the event as a watershed moment.
The withdrawal came after the fraught final days of a frantic mission to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans who had helped the US-led war effort -- and which left scores of Afghans and 13 US troops died in a suicide attack last week.
The attack claimed by ISIS's Afghan offshoot gave edgy urgency to the risky US-led international airlift from Kabul, and also revealed the possible troubles ahead for Afghanistan as the Taliban move to form a government and actually rule.
The withdrawal also came before the end of August 31, the actual deadline set by President Joe Biden to call time on America's longest war. The war has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US servicemembers.
Biden said he would address the nation on Tuesday in Washington
Taliban Celebrates as US Troops leave the country
"Tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11th, 2001", said US General Kenneth McKenzie to AFP.
The final flight left at 1929 GMT Monday - just before the start of Tuesday in Kabul, he said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghanistan had "gained full independence" with the US withdrawal, and Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official, said he was "proud" to witness "these historic moments", quoted AFP.
Taliban fighters watched the last U.S. planes disappear into the sky over Afghanistan around midnight Monday and then fired their guns into the air, celebrating victory after a 20-year insurgency that drove the world's most powerful military out of one of the poorest countries.
The departure of the U.S. cargo planes marked the end of a massive airlift in which tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan, fearful of the return of Taliban rule after the militants took over most of the country and rolled into the capital earlier this month.
"The last five aircraft have left, it's over!" said Hemad Sherzad, a Taliban fighter stationed at Kabul's international airport. "I cannot express my happiness in words. ... Our 20 years of sacrifice worked", quoted AP.