U.S., NATO start formal troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years in country

Even before Saturday, the herculean task of packing up had begun.

The U.S. military has been taking inventory, deciding what is shipped back to the United States, what is handed to the Afghan security forces and what is sold as junk in Afghanistan’s markets.

In recent weeks, the military has been flying out equipment on massive C-17 cargo planes.

WATCH | U.S. President Joe Biden on sacrifices in Afghanistan:

U.S. President Joe Biden says the plan for Afghanistan was always to be ‘in together, out together,’ but the planned troop withdrawal does not mean the U.S. will take its eye off the terrorist threat. 1:21

The U.S. is estimated to have spent more than $2 trillion US in Afghanistan in the past two decades, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University, which documents the hidden costs of the U.S. military engagement.

Defence Department officials and diplomats told The Associated Press that the withdrawal has involved closing smaller bases over the last year. They said that since Biden announced the end-of-summer withdrawal date in mid-April, only about 60 military personnel had left the country.

Entry followed Sept. 11 attacks

The U.S. and its NATO allies went into Afghanistan together on Oct. 7, 2001 to hunt the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks who lived under the protection of the country’s Taliban rulers.

Two months later, the Taliban had been defeated, and al-Qaeda fighters and their leader, Osama bin Laden, were on the run.

In his withdrawal announcement last month, Biden said the initial mission was accomplished a decade ago when U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in his hideout in neighbouring Pakistan.

Since then, al-Qaeda has been degraded, while the terrorist threat has “metastasized” into a global phenomenon that is not contained by keeping thousands of troops in one country, he said.

Until now the U.S. and NATO have received no promises from the Taliban that they won’t attack troops during the pullout.

In response to AP questions, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said the Taliban leadership was still mulling over its strategy.

Col. Sonny Leggett, a U.S. military spokesperson in Afghanistan, tweeted late Saturday that there was some ineffective firing in the area of southern Kandahar air base, one of the U.S. military’s largest bases. He also said U.S. forces had conducted “precision strikes” against missiles found aimed at the airfield in Kandahar.

“Kandahar Airfield received ineffective indirect fire this afternoon; no injury to personnel or damage to equipment,” he tweeted, without attaching blame.

Warnings about attacks

However, Leggett also posted a video clip of Gen. Austin Miller, head of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, speaking to an Afghan journalist in which he said “a return to violence would be … senseless and tragic” but that coalition troops “have the military means to respond forcefully to any type of attacks.”

The insurgent group continues to accuse Washington of breaching the deal it signed with Biden’s predecessor more than a year ago. In that agreement, the U.S. said it would have all troops out by May 1.

In a statement on Saturday, Taliban military spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the passing of the May 1 deadline for a complete withdrawal “opened the way for [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] mujahedeen to take every counteraction it deems appropriate against the occupying forces.”

However, he said fighters on the battlefield will wait for a decision from the leadership before launching any attacks, and that decision will be based on “the sovereignty, values and higher interests of the country.”

Continued loss, violence

Violence has spiked in Afghanistan since the February 2020 deal was signed. Peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government, which were part of the agreement, quickly bogged down.

On Friday, a truck bomb in eastern Logar province killed 21 people, many of them police and students.

WATCH | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on exiting Afghanistan:

Antony Blinken responded to a reporter’s question about fear of another civil war in Afghanistan after the U.S. pulls its troops out in September. Blinken says there is a strong desire for peace among local and regional players. 1:29

Afghans have paid the highest price since 2001, with 47,245 civilians killed, according to the Costs of War project. Millions more have been displaced inside Afghanistan or have fled to Pakistan, Iran and Europe.

Afghanistan’s security forces are expected to come under increasing pressure from the Taliban after the withdrawal if no peace agreement is reached in the interim, according to Afghan observers.

Since the start of the war, they have taken heavy losses, with estimates ranging from 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan troops killed. The Afghan military has been battered by corruption. The U.S. and NATO pay $4 billion US a year to sustain the force.

Still, the Afghan Defence Ministry and presidential palace in separate statements have said that Afghanistan’s security forces are in good shape to defend against Taliban advances.

The Taliban, meanwhile, are at their strongest since being ousted in 2001.

While mapping their gains and territorial holds is difficult, they are believed to hold sway or outright control over nearly half of Afghanistan.