The US announced on Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal that the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.
[...]
US forces shut off the Bagram airfield’s electricity supply and did not notify the base’s senior Afghan officer when they departed on Friday, prompting puzzlement and anger among Afghan soldiers there.
The airfield’s new commander, Gen Mir Asadullah Kohistani, only discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, he said on Monday.
Guardian
And the
Afghanis who helped the US soldiers and are at risk of retaliation because of it can't even get out.
Kohistani’s account appeared to contradict a statement issued last week by the US that its forces had co-ordinated their departure from various bases with Afghan leaders. In response to Kohistani’s account, US spokesman Col Sonny Leggett referred back to the statement.
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Before the Afghan army could take control of the airfield about an hour’s drive from the Afghan capital, Kabul, it was invaded by a small army of looters, who ransacked barracks and storage tents before being evicted, according to Afghan military officials.
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Within 20 minutes of the US’s silent departure on Friday, the electricity was shut down and the base was plunged into darkness, said Abdul Raouf, a soldier of 10 years who has also served in Taliban strongholds of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
The sudden darkness was like a signal to the looters, he said. They entered from the north, smashing through the first barrier, ransacking buildings, loading anything that was not nailed down into trucks.
“In one night they lost all the goodwill of 20 years by leaving the way they did, in the night, without telling the Afghan soldiers who were outside patrolling the area,” another Afghan soldier told AP.
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Fighting has raged across several provinces, but the insurgents have focused primarily on carrying out a devastating campaign across the northern countryside, seizing dozens of districts in the past two months.
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Troops and pro-government militiamen were deployed in the northern provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan where the Taliban have captured swathes of territory at lighting speed, often without any fighting.
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Meanwhile, in northern Afghanistan, district after district has fallen to the Taliban. In just the last two days, hundreds of Afghan soldiers fled across the border into Tajikistan rather than fight the insurgents.
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On Monday, three days after the US departure, Afghan soldiers were still collecting piles of rubbish that included empty water bottles, cans and empty energy drinks left behind by the looters.
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Kohistani said the US left behind 3.5m objects, all itemised by the departing military. They include tens of thousands of water bottles, energy drinks and military ready-made meals.
They also include thousands of civilian vehicles, many of them without keys to start them, and hundreds of armoured vehicles. Kohistani said the US also left behind small weapons and the ammunition for them, but the departing troops took heavy weapons with them.
[...]
The last US soldiers are likely to remain until an agreement to protect the Kabul airport, which is expected to be undertaken by Turkey, is completed.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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