BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.
Afghanistan’s army showed off the sprawling air base Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicenter of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on America.
The U.S. announced Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.
“We (heard) some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram … and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram,” Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, Bagram’s new commander said.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett did not address the specific complaints of many Afghan soldiers who inherited the abandoned airfield, instead referring to a statement last week.
The statement said the handover had been in the process soon after President Joe Biden’s mid-April announcement that America was withdrawing the last of its forces. Leggett said in the statement that they had coordinated their departures with Afghanistan’s leaders.
Before the Afghan army could take control of the airfield about an hour’s drive from the Afghan capital Kabul, it was invaded by a small army of looters, who ransacked barrack after barrack and rummaged through giant storage tents before being evicted, according to Afghan military officials.
“At first we thought maybe they were Taliban,” said Abdul Raouf, a soldier of 10 years. He said the the U.S. called from the Kabul airport and said “we are here at the airport in Kabul.”
Kohistani insisted the Afghan National Security and Defense Force could hold on to the heavily fortified base despite a string of Taliban wins on the battlefield. The airfield also includes a prison with about 5,000 prisoners, many of them allegedly Taliban.
The Taliban’s latest surge comes as the last U.S. and NATO forces pull out of the country. As of last week, most NATO soldiers had already quietly left. The last U.S. soldiers are likely to remain until an agreement to protect the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is expected to be done by Turkey, is completed.
Meanwhile, in northern Afghanistan, district after district has fallen to the Taliban. In just the last two days hundreds of Afghan soldiers fled across the border into Tajikistan rather than fight the insurgents.
“In battle it is sometimes one step forward and some steps back,” said Kohistani.
Kohistani said the Afghan military is changing its strategy to focus on the strategic districts. He insisted they would retake them in the coming days without saying how that would be accomplished.
On display on Monday during was a massive facility, the size of a small city, that had been exclusively used by the U.S. and NATO. The sheer size is extraordinary, with roadways weaving through barracks and past hangar-like buildings. There are two runways and over 100 parking spots for fighter jets known as revetments because of the blast walls that protect each aircraft. One of the two runways is 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) long and was built in 2006. There’s a passenger lounge, a 50-bed hospital and giant hangar size tents filled with supplies such as furniture.
Kohistani said the U.S. left behind 3.5 million items, all itemized by the departing U.S. military. They include tens of thousands of bottles of water, energy drinks and military ready made meals, known as MRE’s.
“When you say 3.5 million items, it is every small items, like every phone, every door knob, every window in every barracks, every door in every barracks,” he said.
The big ticket items left behind include thousands of civilian vehicles, many of them without keys to start them, and hundreds of armored vehicles. Kohistani said the U.S. also left behind small weapons and the ammunition for them, but the departing troops took heavy weapons with them. Ammunition for weapons not being left behind for the Afghan military was blown up before they left.
Afghan soldiers who wandered Monday throughout the base that had once seen as many as 100,000 U.S. troops were deeply critical of how the U.S. left Bagram, leaving in the night without telling the Afghan soldiers tasked with patrolling the perimeter.
“In one night they lost all the good will of 20 years by leaving the way they did, in the night, without telling the Afghan soldiers who were outside patrolling the area,” said Afghan soldier Naematullah, who asked that only his one name be used.
Within 20 minutes of the U.S.’s silent departure on Friday, the electricity was shut down and the base was plunged into darkness, said Raouf, the soldier of 10 years who has also served in Taliban strongholds of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
The sudden darkness was like a signal to the small army of looters, he said. They entered from the north smashing through the first barrier, ransacking buildings, loading anything that was not nailed down into trucks.
On Monday, three days after the U.S. departure, Afghan soldiers were still collecting piles of garbage that included empty water bottles, cans and empty energy drinks left behind by the looters.
Kohistani meanwhile said the nearly 20 years of U.S. and NATO involvement in Afghanistan was appreciated but now it was time for Afghans to step up.
“We have to solve our problem. We have to secure our country and once again build our country with our own hands,” he said.
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Associated Press Writer Tameem Akhgar contributed to this report
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cut and run is the demoncrat way just ask obama.
The greatest American military skeedaddle, since the Union Troops were routed by the Confederates at Bull run. In true fashion the wealth and investment by American patriots and taxpayers just thrown down the toilet as if it was just another failed social experiment., paid for of course by others. This time the wealth flush was accompanied with the blood of our patriots which they treat like just so much human waste. Just who elects such fools and failures to rule over a successful Self-governing nation now being depleted of everything that made it great?
I am shocked OBAMA Didn’t do it sooner.
“Afghanistan’s army showed off the sprawling air base Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicenter of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on America.” And what is the verdict after 20 years? Another politicized Military failure that is going to come right back and bite us in the a**.
Which makes you wonder. WHY THE HELL did we spend SO MANY BILLIONS TO ‘train’ the afgans, when every time ISIS/Taliban etc makes an attack, THEY RUN away, after the first bullet is fired!!
This Biden crew that seeks and offers only comfort over Greatness has no concept of what makes a man or what makes America great. They fear pain and sacrifice more than they love even their comforts.
Fearful, fear mongering comfort seeking Democrats, do not understand that men and nations get wisdom and greatness out of suffering and sacrifice. Pain is a purifier of the human soul, and much like the tightening of the strings of a violin so that it can bring forth sweeter music. Pain is like the hammer and the chisel, hacking away great chunks of egotism and selfishness, in order to bring out each unique human form, designed by the hand of the creator Himself for greatness. Pain is the burning away of dross, in order to reveal the precious shiny soul hidden within the human crucible called life, as the pain and agony of our savior himself who bore the pain and darkness of our rebellious spirits to reveal the light and the gain of a resurrection of mankind that shattered time itself into AD and BC, now corrupted by the soulless fearful into BCE and CE (common Era) where Common men now get edified over men and nations of sacrifice and excellence. Just ask the record-breaking athlete, or the terrorist conquering well prepared Navy Seal, or the men who leave office financially poorer for having taken on the Pain of THE PEOPLE to Make America Great Again. Only the dead feel no pain, or the living dead (like Biden) who run from risk and pain as they run from life itself.
Leave it to the Democrats to sneak out of town in the middle of the night, probably the headlights turned off, engine noise muffled. They are very good at sneaking out of situations that could be contoversial, they do it all the time to avoid any responsibility. It make it easy for the ‘Arabs’ to sneak in and ‘unfold’ their tents and be ready to conduct terrorism as usual!
I’ve often wondered, WHY WHEN we go INTO a ‘war zone’, w spend so MANY MILLIONS SHIPPING all our weapons/gear OVER THERE.
BUT when it comes time to bring those troops back home, WE almost all the time, LEAVE ALL THAT GEAR BEHIND!?!?
If I were in charge of abandoning this base, I would have planted charges and told the Afgan military to back off and let the taliban have it. Then when they are settled in, blow it all to he11, give them nothing.
I second that idea..
Should have let the Russians have the dump back in 1979 before the future Bin Ladin & Taliban terrorists R’ Us got established.
But, nooo, our govt & military had to butt in & give the future terrorists arms & intelligence to use against the Russians, which resulted in Russia at least being smart enough not to keep sacrificing their men & money for decades like we seem to do.
Ergo, the creation of the Afghan terrorist run hellhole of today.
So true.. I used to love watching films based on the US helping them ‘fight the russians’, but NOW I WONDER< was it worth it!