America ends its longest war, finishes Kabul withdrawal

WASHINGTON — America’s longest war is over.

The United States finished its withdrawal efforts from Kabul’s airport, the Pentagon said Monday, effectively ending a two-decade conflict that began not long after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

After the Pentagon’s announcement, President Joe Biden, in a statement Monday evening, thanked the American military and said he would address the nation Tuesday afternoon about his decision not to prolong the U.S. mission in Afghanistan beyond Aug. 31.

“The past 17 days have seen our troops execute the largest airlift in U.S. history, evacuating over 120,000 U.S. citizens, citizens of our allies, and Afghan allies of the United States,” the president said in the statement.

“They have done it with unmatched courage, professionalism, and resolve. Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended.”

In the final week of the withdrawal, terrorists from the group ISIS-K killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans in an attack outside the airport. U.S. forces retaliated and launched strikes in a bid to thwart other attacks.

The last C-17 military cargo aircraft departed Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday afternoon, according to U.S. Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, completing a massive evacuation effort that flew more than 116,000 people out of Afghanistan over the past two weeks.

“While the military evacuation is complete, the diplomatic mission to ensure additional U.S. citizens and eligible Afghans who want to leave continues,” said McKenzie, who oversees the U.S. military mission in the region.

As of early Monday, U.S. and allied forces evacuated 1,200 people out of the Afghan capital on 26 military cargo aircraft flights in a 24-hour period, according to the latest figures from the White House. Since the mass evacuations began on Aug. 14, approximately 116,700 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan.

About 122,300 people have been evacuated since the end of July, including about 5,500 U.S. citizens and their families.

A State Department spokesman said Saturday that approximately 250 Americans were still seeking evacuation.

McKenzie said that there were no Americans on the last five flights out of Kabul.

“We were not able to bring any Americans out, that activity probably ended about 12 hours before our exit. Although we continue the outreach and would have been prepared to bring them on until the very last minute, but none of them made it to the airport,” McKenzie said.

The four-star general added that there were no evacuees left at the airfield when the last C-17 took off and confirmed that all U.S. service members and troops from the Afghan military force along with their families were also airlifted out on Monday.

McKenzie said that the Taliban did not have direct knowledge of the U.S military’s time of…