Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain and 101st Airborne Division disembark from their chinook helicopter March 12, 2002 after returning to Bagram Air Base from the fighting in eastern Afghanistan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:07 PM PT – Friday, July 2, 2021
All U.S. troops have now vacated the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. A senior official verified the base had been handed over to Afghan security forces earlier on Friday amid a full-scale U.S. troop withdrawal from the Middle Eastern nation.
Reports said the air base served as the states’ flashpoint in its war on terror in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attack by Al-Qaeda. However, after more than 20-years of conflict, which took the lives of around 2,300 U.S. soldiers and more than 100,000 Afghans, many have been worried the country is no more stable than before.
“For Afghans that is a really big problem, now the war between the Afghan government and the Taliban will be worse,” said Ilyas, a man residing in Kabul who declined to give his last name.
Just saw video of last U.S. flight out of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Like most vets of this war, I have very complicated feelings about this.
To my fellow vets: there’s a difference between your service and the politics of the conflict.
Thank you for answering the call
— Rep. Jason Crow (@RepJasonCrow) July 2, 2021
A total of 650 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan indefinitely, based largely at the U.S. embassy for security. There have also been discussions around whether 300 additional troops will remain at Kabul’s airport for further security measures.
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