US left Bagram airfield without warning, Afghan officials say | Conflict News

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The United States left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years cutting off the power and slipping away into the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who found out about the Americans leaving more than two hours after their departure, Afghan military officials said.

The United States announced on Friday that it had completely left its biggest airfield in the country before the final withdrawal by the end of August of all American soldiers from Afghanistan, except a few hundred.

“We [heard] a rumor that the Americans had left Bagram… and finally at 7:00 am, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram, ”General Mir Asadullah Kohistani, the new commander of Bagram, told the ‘Associated Press.

The Afghan army showed the sprawling air base on Monday, allowing reporters to tour the heavily fortified complex.

“They (the Americans) are completely out now and everything is under our control, including the watchtowers, air traffic and the hospital,” a senior Afghan government official told Reuters news agency.

Bagram has long been a symbol of Western forces deployed to bolster the Afghan government in the face of a Taliban offensive as most US and NATO forces withdraw.

The Taliban captured neighborhoods in Badakhshan and Kandahar provinces over the weekend, sending Afghan government forces to flee across the border with Tajikistan. Taliban fighters last week launched an attack on the central Afghan city of Ghazni, on the highway connecting the capital Kabul to the southern province of Kandahar.

Afghan soldier plays guitar left behind by US troops at Bagram Air Base on July 5 [Mohammad Ismail/Reuters]

On Monday in Bagram, dozens of abandoned U.S. vehicles were at the scene as others moved with Afghan officials and personnel. Radars oscillated as soldiers stood guard, and hundreds of Afghan security personnel moved into barracks that once housed American soldiers.

Afghan soldiers who wandered around the base which had once seen as many as 100,000 American troops strongly criticized the way the United States left Bagram.

“In one night, they lost all the goodwill of 20 years by leaving as they did, in the night, without telling the Afghan soldiers who were patrolling outside the area,” said the Afghan soldier. Naematullah, who requested that his name alone be used. .

Before the Afghan army could take control of the airfield, about an hour’s drive from the Afghan capital Kabul, a small group of looters ransacked barracks after barracks and searched giant storage tents before being expelled, Afghan military officials said.

“At first we thought maybe it was the Taliban,” 10-year-old Abdul Raouf told the AP. He said the United States called from Kabul airport and said “we are here at Kabul airport”.

Vehicles parked at Bagram after US troops left the airfield on July 5 [Mohammad Ismail/Reuters]

US Colonel Sonny Leggett, official spokesperson for the US military in Afghanistan, did not address the specific complaints of many Afghan soldiers, instead referring to a US statement released last week.

The statement said the transfer was underway shortly after President Joe Biden announced in mid-April that the The United States would withdraw his forces from Afghanistan. Leggett said in the statement that they had coordinated their departures with the Afghan leadership.

The United States announced on July 2 that it had completely left its largest airfield in the country before a final withdrawal which the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.

Kohistani, the new airfield commander, insisted that the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces could keep the heavily fortified base despite a series of Taliban victories on the battlefield. The airfield also includes a prison with around 5,000 prisoners, many of whom are believed to be members of the Taliban.

Meanwhile, neighborhoods and markets in the shadow of the base were preparing for the sequel.

“It is not a problem for us if there are foreign forces [here] or they leave, but the fact that the Taliban take over the neighborhoods at any time affects our work, ”Wasim Shirzad, a trader, told Reuters.

Another trader, Nematullah Ferdaws, agrees: “Most traders don’t invest… because they are hesitant about the future of the country.



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