The Pentagon said on Monday that the US had completed efforts to evacuate its remaining civilians and troops from Afghanistan with the departure of the last US plane from Kabul.
This concluded the US presence in Afghanistan, almost 20 years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Footage posted on social media after the announcement showed Taliban fighters celebrating the US withdrawal by firing in the air.
This is how Taliban celeberates the complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years pic.twitter.com/Gp1Sgg05D3
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) August 30, 2021
“The president stands by his decision to bring our men and women home from Afghanistan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, according to NBC News.
Biden is expected to make remarks on the end of the war in the coming days, Psaki added.
The US had rushed to evacuate Afghan allies before troops were expected to leave midnight Tuesday local time (Monday afternoon in the United States). Pentagon officials said Monday that they would not reveal details about when the final evacuation flights would take place for security reasons.
Asked then what they would tell Americans who still wanted to leave, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said only, “There is still time.”
Psaki said the administration remained committed to getting all those who wanted to leave Afghanistan out of that country, even beyond the Aug. 31 deadline.
“Our commitment is enduring and our commitment does not waver even as we bring the men and women from our military home,” she added.
Biden has come under fire for his handling of the Afghanistan crisis, where the Taliban took over the country more than one week ago.
The criticism of the President increased after last week’s suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, in which at least 70 people were killed, including 13 US servicemembers.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Friday left open the possibility that Republicans would seek to impeach Biden over his handling of the troop withdrawal in Afghanistan.
“I’m extremely frustrated with this president,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol, adding,
“There will be a day of reckoning.”
Source: Arutz Sheva