Last U.S. military flight leaves Afghanistan, abandoned equipment destroyed

THE HILL: 

The longest war in U.S. history has come to an end with the departure of the last American military flight out of Afghanistan almost 20 years after troops first arrived in the country.

American planes took off from the Kabul airport shortly before midnight local time, U.S. Central Command head Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters on Tuesday.

The last C-17 left the Hamid Karzai International Airport at 3:29 p.m. ET and cleared Afghanistan's airspace just under the Biden administration’s Aug. 31 deadline to remove all U.S. forces from the country, McKenzie said.

"I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals and vulnerable Afghans," McKenzie said.

"Every single U.S. service member is now out of Afghanistan," he later added.

McKenzie could not say how many people were aboard the aircraft or where it was headed, as it is still in flight, but he confirmed that 82nd Airborne Division head Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue and Ambassador Ross Wilson were on board and “were in fact the last people to stand on the ground, step on the airplane.”

The flight also carried the last remaining U.S. troops and the core diplomatic staff of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

But there are still several hundred Americans in Afghanistan who were unable to reach the airport, along with thousands of Afghans who assisted the U.S. military during the war effort.

McKenzie said no American civilians were on the last five flights to leave.

“We maintained the ability to bring them in up until immediately before departure, but we were not able to bring any Americans out. That activity ended probably about 12 hours before our exit. ...  None of them made it to the airport,” he added. 

But he maintained that even if the Biden administration had extended the deadline, “we wouldn’t have gotten everybody out that we wanted to get out and there still would’ve been people who would’ve been disappointed with that. It’s a tough situation.”

McKenzie also said the United States will continue the diplomatic evacuation mission to recover those Americans and vulnerable Afghans.

“I want to emphasize again that simply because we have left that doesn’t mean the opportunities for both Americans that are in Afghanistan who want to leave and Afghans who want to leave. They will not be denied that opportunity,” McKenzie added.

McKenzie also said the United States will continue the diplomatic evacuation mission to recover those Americans and vulnerable Afghans.

“While the military evacuation is complete, the diplomatic mission to ensure additional U.S. citizens and eligible Afghans who want to leave continues,” he said.

“Tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. It's a mission that brought Osama bin Laden to a just end, along with many of his al Qaeda co-conspirators," McKenzie added.

"And it was not a cheap mission. The cost was 2,461 U.S. service members and civilians killed and more than 20,000 who were injured. Sadly, that includes 13 service members who were killed last week by an ISIS-K suicide bomber. We honor their sacrifice today as we remember their heroic accomplishments,” he said.

McKenzie said the final days of the withdrawal, beginning from Aug. 14, was the “largest non-combatant evacuation” in the U.S. military’s history.

In those 18 days, American forces evacuated 79,000 civilians from the airport, including 6,000 Americans and more than 73,000 Special Immigrant Visa holders, consular staff, at-risk Afghans and their families, McKenzie said

Since the end of July, more than 123,000 civilians have been evacuated.

McKenzie laid out the final hours U.S. troops were in the country, noting that the military destroyed or removed remaining equipment.

Forces kept a counter rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) system in place “up until the very last minute” to protect against any rocket attacks before they “demilitarized those systems so that they’ll never be used again.”

In addition, troops made unusable up to 70 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft.

McKenzie said the Taliban were “very pragmatic and very businesslike” during the withdrawal and that Donahue spoke to the Taliban commander before leaving to coordinate “but there was no discussion” of turning over the airfield. 

Updated at 6:01 p.m.

UPDATE Breaking - explosions At Kabul airport death toll rises.

 

Washington — The Pentagon confirmed Thursday morning that an explosion occurred outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where the U.S. military has been working to evacuate scores of American citizens and at-risk Afghans from the country ahead of President Biden's August 31 deadline to complete the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Twitter that casualties from the blast are "unclear at this time," and the Defense Department "will provide additional details when we can."

A White House official told CBS News that Mr. Biden has been briefed on the explosion.

As the U.S. rushes to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who helped American troops during the 20-year war in Afghanistan, as well as those at risk from the Taliban, out of Kabul, Mr. Biden has warned of growing risk to American and allied forces on the ground with each day that passes.

The U.S. and Britain warned citizens not to go to Kabul's airport because of a terror threat outside the facility's gates. On Wednesday evening, the U.S. Embassy in the capital alerted U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and said those at three different gates "should leave immediately."

Mr. Biden spoke earlier this week of an ongoing threat posed by the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS Khorasan, or ISIS-K.

As of Thursday morning, the U.S. has evacuated 95,700 people out of Kabul since August 14, the White House said. Roughly 13,400 were flown out of the country on U.S. military and coalition flights during a 24-hour span beginning early Wednesday morning.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that 4,500 U.S. citizens and their immediate families have been shuttled out of Afghanistan in the last 10 days, and the State Department believes as many as 1,500 Americans are still in the country.

This is a developing situation, check back later for more details.

UPDATE WSJ: 

A bombing targeting the convoy of Afghanistan’s first vice president killed at least 10 people in the country’s capital, an indication of the high stakes in the U.S.-backed talks between Kabul and the Taliban to end nearly two decades of fighting.

A bomb placed in a wheelbarrow detonated near Amrullah Saleh’s convoy in Kabul early Wednesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. Mr. Saleh suffered minor injuries in an attack that also wounded more than 15 people, including several of his bodyguards, according to the ministry.

Hours after the bombing, Mr. Saleh appeared in a video message from his office with a bandage on his left hand.

“Our fight continues and I am in the service of people of Afghanistan,” he said.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Taliban quickly denied any involvement, but the Interior Ministry said the explosives were similar to ones used in previous attacks by the Haqqani wing of the insurgent group.

UPDATE: ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Kabul bombings,

@charliecbs

 reports He says the many checkpoint that were in Kabul airport under the Afghan government's control have been eliminated, opening the door for chaos: "You can't depend on the Taliban to provide security"

WSJ: CIA, U.S. Troops Conduct Missions Outside Kabul Airport to Extract Americans, Afghan Allies

 

WASHINGTON—The Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military are conducting extraction operations to evacuate Americans using helicopters and ground troops as the window begins to close for rescuing all people at risk in Afghanistan.

The CIA has launched clandestine operations to rescue Americans in and outside Kabul in recent days, according to U.S. and other officials. The missions are using American military helicopters but under the control of the CIA, a typical arrangement in such operations.

A congressional source knowledgeable about the evacuation effort said U.S. troops had gone into Kabul on joint missions with other foreign allies, including Britain and France, to designated locations where they had picked up citizens from all those nations, U.S. green-card holders, and Afghans who hold special visas for helping the U.S. military.

The air and ground operations are considered perilous under the current circumstances in the country as the U.S. has begun to assign priority on evacuating Americans over Afghans who are at risk. Those include the many thousands of Afghan interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government but remain inside the country and face retribution from the Taliban.

The Pentagon has said it is coordinating with the Taliban on airport security, but it’s unclear if those discussions also included extraction missions.

READ MORE AT THR WALL STREET JOURNAL 

UPDATED - LIVE VIDEO - Washington D.C. on lockdown - possible truck bomb threat.

WASHINGTON - Capitol police say they're conducting an active bomb threat and evacuating nearby buildings on Capitol Hill after a suspicious vehicle was identified near the Library of Congress.

The Associated Press says a possible explosive may have been located in the "suspicious vehicle."

Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that investigators on the scene were working to determine whether the device was an operable explosive and whether the man in the truck was holding a detonator.

The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The following streets in the area have been closed:

- Independence Ave between 3rd St. SW to 2nd St SE

- Constitution Ave between 3rd St. NW and 2nd St. NE

- East Capitol NE between 1st St NE and 2nd St SE

Capitol police are asking people to avoid the area.

This is a developing news situation. 

LIVE LOOK VIA WUSA9

UPDATE: 

Several governmental buildings in Washington, D.C., were evacuated Thursday morning due to what Capitol Police call "an active bomb threat investigation" after a man drove a pickup truck onto a sidewalk.

Law enforcement negotiators are working to make contact with the person in the vehicle, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Negotiation is still ongoing to have a "peaceful resolution" and the suspect's motives were unknown, Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a press conference around noon local time.

The suspect told responding officers he had a bomb, and responding officers said he had what appeared to be a detonator in his hand, Manger said.

Authorities are also investigating a video posted to Facebook that purports to have been posted by the man in the vehicle.

The Cannon House Office Building, a congressional office building, was evacuated via underground routes. The Library of Congress and Supreme Court building were also evacuated. Both the Supreme Court and Congress are on recess.

Messages have been sent to congressional staffers asking that they "remain calm and relocate to Longworth House Office Building using the underground tunnels."

Senate staff were asked in a message to "remain clear of the police activity" and to "please move indoors" if they were outside on Capitol grounds.

The FBI said it's responding. The White House is monitoring the situation and is receiving updates from law enforcement, according to an administration official.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

WASHINGTON — UPDATE, 2:21 p.m.: A law enforcement source tells ABC News the Capitol bomb threat suspect has surrendered and is in police custody.

Afghanistan evacuation continues but US government can't guarantee a safe trip to the airport.

WASHINGTON (SBG) — The U.S. embassy in Kabul issued a warning Wednesday that it cannot guarantee safe passage to the airport, the only way to leave Afghanistan.

The security situation in Kabul continues to change quickly, including at the airport," the notice says.
The warning comes as the U.S. military continues to accelerate what has been a chaotic evacuation process after the Taliban swiftly took over the country.

It also comes after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Taliban have agreed to allow “safe passage” from Afghanistan for civilians to get to the airport. There have been multiple reports of civilians being pushed back or turned away trying to get there over the last several days.

Asked about the warning at a briefing Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said she was not aware of any incidents where Americans were harassed or attacked going to the airport. She did concede there might be reports she wasn't aware of.

"The Taliban made a commitment to safe passage for American citizens," she said. "So far, it appears Americans have been able to get to the airport."