The last U.S. military planes left the Kabul airport Monday bringing an official end to the military mission.
The last few days were not without bloodshed. The Pentagon says a U.S. military drone blew up a vehicle packed with explosives. Inside the vehicle – members of the militant group ISIS-K that posed an imminent threat to the airport.
The Afghan people say 10 members from one family including several children were killed in that strike.
The incident follows last week’s suicide bombing at the airport that killed at least 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans. The Pentagon says the military evacuated more than 123-thousand people before leaving the country.
Joining the discussion:
- Nadia Hashimi is an Afghan-American pediatrician, author and women’s rights activist.
- Peter Mansoor is a retired U.S. army colonel who served in Iraq and is the Chair of Military History at The Ohio State University.
- Saeed Khan is a lecturer of Near East and Asian Studies at Wayne State University.
- Ahmad Shah Mohibi is the Founder and President of Rise to Peace.
For more:
A Taliban spokesman welcomed the U.S.'s withdrawal from #Afghanistan early Tuesday shortly after the U.S. Central Command announced the withdrawal of American troops from the Asian country had been completed.
latest: https://t.co/AKSBKf7eEh pic.twitter.com/O7okoIxu7t
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) August 31, 2021
LAST SOLDIER OUT: Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Kabul airport in this photo released by the U.S. military. Donahue was the final American service member to depart Afghanistan. https://t.co/5HsKle1l2G pic.twitter.com/Liz85r54xc
— ABC News (@ABC) August 31, 2021
The last U.S. forces left Afghanistan late Monday, ending a 20-year occupation that cost over $2 trillion, took more than 170,000 lives, left behind tens of thousands of Afghans and ultimately failed to defeat the Taliban. https://t.co/XurOiLd0Xc
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 31, 2021