The last U.S. military planes left Kabul's airport, marking the end of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and the efforts to airlift thousands of U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans as the country fell to the Taliban, CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie confirmed on Monday evening.
The state of play: The U.S. facilitated the evacuation of over 120,000 people, including 5,000 Americans, but up to 250 Americans and thousands of Afghan allies were still attempting to leave the country.
- The last flight out left at 3:29 p.m. ET, which was 11:59 p.m. on Monday night in Kabul.
- The evacuation of U.S. civilians ended about 12 hours earlier, McKenzie said, though some Afghans were evacuated in the closing hours.
What they're saying: "There's a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out," McKenzie said. He added that not everyone would have gotten out even if the deadline was extended.
- "Every single U.S. service member is now out of Afghanistan," McKenzie said.
- Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted: "The last American occupier withdrew... at 12 o'clock and our country gained its full independence, praise and gratitude be to God."
McKenzie said the Kabul airlift was the largest civilian evacuation mission ever executed by the U.S. military. He said the "vast majority" of Americans who hoped to flee were evacuated.
- "We continued the outreach and would have been prepared to bring them on until the very last minute but none of them made it to the airport and were able to be accommodated.
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