The Pentagon announced on Tuesday in Washington that the withdrawal was more than 90 percent complete. The amount of material flown out so far corresponds to more than 980 loads of C-17 transport aircraft. Since US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw in April, the US armed forces have also handed over seven facilities to the Afghan Ministry of Defense. At the end of last month it was said that the US government wanted to conclude the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by the end of August.
US and other NATO soldiers recently left their largest base in Afghanistan, the Bagram Air Force Base. The base was handed over to the Afghan security forces. Civilian and military leaders in Afghanistan had been adequately informed about the handover of the base, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday. He responded to reports that, for example, the new Afghan commander was not adequately informed and that there was a lack of coordination with the Afghans.
For security reasons, for example, no information was provided about the exact time of the withdrawal, said Kirby. They were careful with the details, but there was coordination. «It was a handover. (…) And thus there have also been handover talks with Afghan leaders. ” The whole thing did not happen in secret. But it would have been irresponsible to say the exact time beforehand.