US forces in final phase of Kabul evacuations
Militant fire across Afghan border kills two Pakistan soldiers, says army
US forces were in the final phase of pulling out of Kabul, ending two decades of costly involvement in Afghanistan, as the country’s new Taliban rulers prepared to take control of the airport.
Just over 1,000 civilians remained at the airport on Sunday to be flown out before the troops finally leave, a Western security official said.
“We want to ensure that every foreign civilian and those who are at risk are evacuated today. Forces will start flying out once this process is over,” said the official, who is stationed at the airport.
Meanwhile, militant fire from across the border in Afghanistan killed two Pakistani soldiers on Sunday, the army said, in the first such attack since the Taliban took over Kabul 10 days ago.
The army said it retaliated and killed two or three attackers.
The incident in Pakistan’s Bajaur district is the first of its kind reported since the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15.
US President Joe Biden has said he will stick by his deadline to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by Tuesday. A US official said on Saturday that fewer than 4,000 troops remained at the airport.
US and allied forces have mounted a massive two-week effort to ferry foreign nationals and tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans out of the country.
The airlift — one of the biggest such evacuation operations ever — marked the end of a 20-year Western mission in Afghanistan that began when US-led forces ousted a Taliban government that had provided safe haven for the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
The final chapter came quickly after the US and the Taliban made a deal to end the foreign involvement.