KABUL, Afghanistan — American forces on Friday withdraw from Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after 20 years, it has been confirmed.
The airfield has been given in its entirety to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force, according to reports. The move comes on the heels of President Joe Biden announcing his intent for the nearly 3,500 U.S. troops to return home by the September 11, 2021 deadline.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Biden was asked by reporters if he was worried the Afghan government would be overrun without the U.S. Troops there on the ground.
“We were in that war for 20 years. 20 years,” Biden said. “I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain a government.”
The U.S. defeated the Taliban in 2001 after the group sheltered Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda and the brains behind the deadly 9/11 attack in New York. Since then, America has been in war and is the longest war in U.S. history. Over 2,300 U.S. troops have lost their lives and left thousands more wounded.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump promised U.S. forces would leave the country by last May but that never transpired. Biden looks determined to keep his word and withdraw the troops, ending America’s longest war.
This story is breaking news and will be updated with more information.
