The US has officially left Afghanistan, making the end of a 20-year war.
General Kenneth F McKenzie of US Central Command formally announced the withdrawal on August 30 after Taliban leaders said that the last US flight had left Kabul Airport, Independent reports.
The war began after 9/11 when Afghanistan was used as a base by al Qaeda to attack the US, however, while the Taliban were successfully removed from power, it has now ended with the group controlling more of the country than they ever did during their previous rule, Reuters reports.
"I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals and vulnerable Afghans," General McKenzie said. "Every single US service member is out of Afghanistan."
"No words from me could possibly capture the full measure of sacrifices and accomplishments of those who served," he added.
Listen to General McKenzie's announcement below:The evacuation of Afghanistan was later confirmed by President Joe Biden, who praised the work of American soldiers which enabled the evacuation of over 120,000 people in two weeks.
"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended," he said.
The president added that it was the "unanimous recommendation of the joint chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned."
"Their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops, and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead."
Biden is pictured below saluting the remains of US service people recently killed in Afghanistan.
Independent reports that people in the US were no longer in favor of the war in Afghanistan at the time of the 2020 presidential election and both Biden and Trump promised to put an end to it.
The war resulted in the deaths of almost 50,000 Afghan civilians, 2,500 US service members, 66,000 Afghan national military and police, 457 British armed forces personnel, and 50,000 Taliban and fighters from the opposition.
The Watson Institute estimated that the war cost the US $2.3 trillion dollars.