{"id":47313,"date":"2021-08-30T21:57:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T21:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/30\/its-official-the-us-has-no-boots-on-the-ground-in-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:58:08","slug":"its-official-the-us-has-no-boots-on-the-ground-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/mideast-africa\/2021\/08\/30\/its-official-the-us-has-no-boots-on-the-ground-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official: The US has no boots on the ground in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vanda Felbab-Brown, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, discusses what next steps need to be conducted to stabilize Afghanistan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Answering the question of at what point on Aug. 31 the U.S. would pull its last troops out of Afghanistan<\/a>, the head of U.S. Central Command confirmed Monday 1 a.m. Kabul time that the final C-17 had taken off from Hamid Karzai International Airport. The final flight out of the country took off at 11:59 p.m. Kabul time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan was marked by one of its deadliest days<\/a>, as well as a promise from the State Department that Americans still in the country would have an opportunity to evacuate at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals and vulnerable Afghan,\u201d Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said during a Pentagon press conference. \u201cThe last C-17 lifted off from Hamad Karzai International Airport on Aug. 30, this afternoon, at 3:29pm, East Coast time. And the last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 2,400 U.S. troops died supporting the war effort, with more than 20,000 wounded. The financial price tag exceeded $2 trillion<\/a> and counting, according to the Costs of War Project<\/a>. That cost will only increase as veterans of this conflict require treatment over the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the U.S. and its partners on the ground were able to evacuate 123,000 civilians from Afghanistan, more than 79,000 of those on U.S. military aircraft alone after the effort kicked into high-gear as the Taliban overran Kabul on Aug. 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vast majority of those evacuated were Afghan nationals, who have since landed directly in the United States, or at one of a dozen way stations in Europe and the Middle East, to finish processing for legal status in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evacuees were aboard the final flights, McKenzie said, though no Americans were able to make it to the airport in the 12 hours leading up to the final departure. They included hundreds of Afghan forces who stayed operational to help guard the airport during the evacuation, McKenzie said, and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have days ahead to actually think about that, but there were just so much going on in this headquarters and we were so completely focused on getting our troops out, and in the in the days before getting, you know, getting getting our citizens out and vulnerable Afghans to the best of our ability, that I did not have a lot of time for reflection,\u201d McKenzie said when asked about his feelings on the final minutes of the 20-year war. \u201cI\u2019m sure I will do that in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final days of the drawdown were marked by terror, after an ISIS suicide bomber detonated outside the Abbey Gate on Thursday, where thousands waited in line to be processed into the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blast resulted in the deaths of 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman and an 82nd Airborne Division soldier, as well as that of dozens of Afghans, and hundreds of injuries across the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attack blew apart a delicate security situation the U.S. and Taliban had negotiated for the final two weeks of the drawdown, during which the vast majority of Afghan forces capitulated to Taliban incursion, culminating in the surrender of Kabul and the Afghan government\u2019s flight from the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. retaliated twice, first targeting several planners of the original bomb on Friday, then taking out a suspected vehicle-borne improvised explosive device on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will tell you the Taliban have been very pragmatic very pragmatic and very business-like, as we have approached this withdrawal,\u201d McKenzie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it was in the insurgent group\u2019s best interest to let Americans and allies leave unscathed, allowing them to get through checkpoints and catch flights out of the country, dozens of reports on the ground showed that fighters continued to harass \u2015 and execute \u2015 civilians as they promised not to interfere with the U.S. operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\t