US Withdrawal From Afghanistan Nears Completion

The US has pulled its last soldiers out of Bagram Air Base and handed the base over to the Afghan military, US officials said on Friday. Bagram Airfield was at the center of US efforts over the past two decades to oust the Taliban and attack al-Qaida, the radical Sunni group responsible for the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington. US President Joe Biden promised a total withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. But the departure won’t take that long: Most American soldiers, as well as the estimated 7,000 troops of NATO allies, have already left or will be gone by July 4. The Bagram pullout signals the end of the longest war in American history, in which more than 200,000 people were killed, including more than 4,000 American soldiers and contractors.