Most U.S. troops are already out of Afghanistan after the closure of the main base

The United States has left its main military base in Afghanistan, part of an accelerated retreat that has caused resurgent Taliban to gain territory and worry that the country could fall into chaos.

The Afghan army will have to take over Bagram Airfield, the great American base that was the center of command across the country and an extensive symbol of the country’s “war forever.” The closure of the base, announced on Friday, means most U.S. troops have left the country.

About 600 troops will be left behind to protect the U.S. diplomatic mission, shifting Washington’s role to providing financial and logistical support to Afghanistan from outside the country.

The Pentagon hopes to meet the full withdrawal date of September 11, two decades after U.S. President George W Bush promised to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Most European countries have already withdrawn their troops, and Germany, Italy and Poland announced last week that their troops had returned home.

The U.S. military exit comes as the security situation has worsened in the country and the Taliban have launched waves of offensives, against Afghan forces and civilians.

Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government that began in September have failed to reach a political agreement or ceasefire.

General Austin S Miller, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, warned that last week the country could fall into a worsening of the civil war.

Eighty of Afghanistan’s approximately 400 districts have fallen under Taliban control since May, said Mir Haider Afzaly, deputy and chairman of the Afghan parliament’s defense committee.

“Violence and battle have intensified in recent months,” he said. “We need the support of foreign troops especially in the field of aviation and intelligence.”

U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to support Afghanistan after meeting with President Ashraf Ghani at the White House last month.

Ghani has requested $ 3.3 billion in security aid and a $ 3 billion dose of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. The country has been affected by an increase in infections caused by the Delta variant.

“The biggest practical measure of U.S. support will be financial: they pay the entire budget of the armed forces and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future,” said Andrew Watkins, senior analyst at International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization.

“But their support is also political and psychological; the morale of the Afghan forces depends on feeling like their Air Force, their supply lines, their salaries are reliably maintained by this American support. “

The U.S. Central Command delivered six facilities to the Afghan Ministry of Defense in late June and shipped equivalent loads of C-17 material out of the country.