For years, the base was the target of numerous Taliban attacks, including suicide bombings and rocket attacks. In the end, it wasn't violence that led to the US exit, but diplomacy. The Pentagon had been drawing down the troop presence in Afghanistan for years, but the Doha Agreement, signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban in Qatar in February 2020, signaled the beginning of the end. In mid-2011, there were nearly 100,000 US troops in the country, and another 35,000 US contractors. A decade later, that number had plummeted to 2,500 troops and 18,000 contractors.
The Biden administration made it clear the last remaining troops would be out by September 11 at the latest, but as the withdrawal progressed, it became clear they would be our far earlier.
Over the last few days of the US withdrawal, crews loaded shipping crates onto cargo planes, loading up the last of what was deemed valuable enough to remove from the country. On Tuesday, US Central Command, which oversees Afghanistan, said it had removed the equivalent of nearly 900 C-17 cargo loads out of Afghanistan and destroyed nearly 16,000 pieces of equipment.
Two planes carrying US and coalition forces and equipment departed the base Thursday night, according to an Afghan army source.
A third plane departed the base early Friday morning, the source told CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
