Photos: America’s longest war ends as last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — The last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul’s airport, the Pentagon said Monday, bringing down the curtain on America’s longest war.
The head of the U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, said the final liftoff of American military aircraft came one minute before midnight in Kabul — just before the start of Tuesday, the day set by President Biden as the deadline for the departure of U.S. troops.
“Every single U.S. service member is out of Afghanistan,” McKenzie said — setting a capstone on a military presence that once exceeded 100,000 American troops and drew the U.S. into a conflict that cost trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.
Within moments of the final U.S. takeoff, Taliban fighters swiftly moved into Hamid Karzai International Airport, the scene of a massive airlift that carried more than 116,000 people out of the country since the militant group seized power two weeks earlier in a swift but nearly bloodless offensive.
Taliban fighters from the Fateh Zwak unit, wielding American supplied weapons, equipment and uniforms, bow in prayer after they stormed into the Kabul International Airport to secure the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban fighters from the Fateh Zwak unit storm into the Kabul International Airport after the U.S. military completed their withdrawal.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban fighters from the Fateh Zwak unit at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Celebratory gunfire lights up the sky after the last U.S. aircraft took off from the airport in Kabul early on Tuesday in Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban fighters enter the airport after the final U.S. troops left, just before midnight.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban fighters at the airport.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban fighters prepare to storm the airport.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A CH-47 Chinook from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, is loaded onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
(Department of Defense)
Celebratory gunfire lights up the sky after the last U.S. aircraft took off from the airport in Kabul early on Tuesday in Afghanistan.
(AFP/Getty Images)
Planes are seen on the tarmac at the airport Monday, hours ahead of the U.S. deadline to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
(AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. soldiers board an Air Force craft Monday at the Kabul airport.
(Aamir Qureshi / AFP/Getty Images )
U.S. soldiers stand on the tarmac as an Air Force aircraft prepares for takeoff.
(Aamir Qureshi/ AFP/Getty Images)
A U.S. Air Force aircraft takes off Monday from the airport in Kabul.
(Aamir Qureshi/ AFP/Getty Images)
