The United States has left Afghanistan
A US Army plane takes off from Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021. AP - Wali Sabawoon
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Twenty years after the start of their intervention, the last American soldiers have left Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced on Monday.
They leave the country in the hands of the Taliban, at the end of the longest war in the history of the United States.
Advertising
Read more
"
The last C-17 plane took off from Kabul airport on August 30
" at 19:29 GMT, General Kenneth McKenzie, who heads the central command on which Afghanistan depends, told a press conference.
After this announcement, gunshots rang out from various Taliban checkpoints.
"
We have made history,
" said a Taliban official after the departure of American forces.
The military withdrawal from Washington was therefore completed 24 hours before the end of the day on August 31, the deadline set by President Joe Biden to withdraw the last American forces from Afghanistan where they had entered in 2001 after the Taliban refused to handing over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.
Two decades later, the Taliban took advantage of the gradual withdrawal of the Americans in recent months and the collapse of the Afghan security forces to enter Kabul on August 15 and regain power, after a lightning military offensive.
123,000 people evacuated
The return of the Islamists to power forced the West to evacuate in haste from Kabul airport their nationals and Afghans who could face reprisals for having worked for foreign forces. This gigantic airlift, which began on August 14, has allowed the exfiltration of more than 123,000 people, according to the latest figures released by the Pentagon. "
If the military evacuations are completed, the diplomatic mission to ensure that more American citizens and eligible Afghans wanting to leave, continue,
" said General Kenneth McKenzie.
The United States deplores 2,456 deaths and a bill of 2,313 billion dollars in 20 years, according to a study by Brown University.
They come out of this war with an image even more tarnished by their inability to predict the speed of the Taliban victory and by their management of evacuations.
Joe Biden justified his decision to withdraw American troops by his refusal to prolong this war any longer and by the fact that their mission had been accomplished with the death of bin Laden, killed by American special forces in 2011 in Pakistan.
During their previous coming to power between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban imposed an ultra-rigorous version of Islamic law.
Women could neither work nor study, thieves and murderers incurred terrible punishments.
The Islamists have endeavored since their return to power to display an image of openness and moderation which nevertheless leaves many countries and observers skeptical.
(
With
AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Afghanistan
United States
On the same subject
Afghanistan: UN adopts resolution for "safe" departures without protected area