The commander of American military forces on the ground in Afghanistan and Washington's ambassador there were the last to board the final evacuation flight from Kabul on Monday, the head of US Central Command said.

"On the last airplane out was General Chris Donahue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and my ground force commander there," McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon.

"And he was accompanied by Ambassador Ross Wilson."

McKenzie said they were the last on the ground at Kabul airport as the United States completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"The State and Defense team were, in fact, the last people to step on the airplane," the general said.

Last US troops leave Afghanistan ending 20-year war
Washington (AFP) Aug 30, 2021 - The US military announced the departure of the last US troops from Afghanistan Monday, concluding a 20-year conflict that ended with the Taliban seizing control of the country.

"I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens," said General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of the US Central Command.

The last flight, a large C-17 military transport, took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport one minute before midnight Kabul time, McKenzie said.

On board were US troops, their commander, and US Ambassador Ross Wilson, leaving behind a shuttered embassy that once buzzed with hundreds of diplomats.

It came after an airlift that had evacuated around 123,000 foreign nationals and Afghans fleeing the ultra-conservative Taliban.

The final flight took place under heavy security following two attacks on the two-week evacuation operation by Islamic State-Khorasan -- one a suicide bombing that left more than 100 people dead, including 13 US troops.

Earlier this year, US President Joe Biden set a deadline of August 31 for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

Many of the Afghans who were evacuated had worked for the US military and embassy and other countries in the international coalition.

McKenzie said the airlift ended about 12 hours before the final flight and that several hundred US citizens remained behind.

"There's a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out," said McKenzie.

"But I think if we'd stayed another 10 days, we wouldn't have gotten everybody out that we wanted to get out."

"There were no evacuees left at the airport," he added.

He said the Taliban had been "very helpful and useful" in conducting the evacuation and keeping security around the airport, despite the deep enmity between the two sides.

"The Taliban have been very pragmatic and very businesslike as we have approached this withdrawal," he said.

US troops led a NATO coalition to eject the Taliban from power in 2001 after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan and protected by the Taliban.

The sound of gunfire was heard across Kabul after the US military confirmed their exit to end the 20-year war.

US military disabled scores of aircraft before leaving Kabul airport
Washington (AFP) Aug 30, 2021 - The US military disabled scores of aircraft and armored vehicles as well as a high-tech rocket defense system at the Kabul airport before it left Monday, a US general said.

Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie said 73 aircraft that were already at Hamid Karzai International Airport were "demilitarized," or rendered useless, by US troops before they wrapped up the two-week evacuation of the Taliban-controlled country.

"Those aircraft will never fly again... They'll never be able to be operated by anyone," he said.

"Most of them are non-mission capable to begin with. But certainly they'll never be able to be flown again."

He said the Pentagon, which built up a force of nearly 6,000 troops to occupy and operate Kabul's airport when the airlift began on August 14, left behind around 70 MRAP armored tactical vehicles -- which can cost up to $1 million apiece -- that it disabled before leaving, and 27 Humvees.

The vehicles "will never be used again by anyone," he said.

The US also left behind the C-RAM system -- counter rocket, artillery, and mortar -- that was used to protect the airport from rocket attacks.

The system helped fend off a five-rocket barrage from the Islamic State on Monday.

"We elected to keep those systems in operation up until the very last minute," before the last US aircraft left, McKenzie said.

"It's a complex procedure and time-intensive procedure to break down those systems. So we demilitarize those systems so that they'll never be used again."

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