Kandahar, Afghanistan:
The United States has completed its withdrawal from Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan, as soon as the second biggest military base in the nation for US forces, officials stated Friday.
Kandahar province was the birthplace of the Taliban and has in current months seen intense clashes amongst the resurgent terrorists and Afghan forces.
US airstrikes have been launched from the base just last week to assistance Afghan forces push back a key Taliban offensive.
“They have not officially handed over the base to us but I can confirm they left the base on Wednesday,” stated Khoja Yaya Alawi, a spokesman for the Afghan army in Kandahar.
“They have handed over all the facilities to Afghan forces,” added Massoud Pashtun, the director of Kandahar Airport.
An official handover is anticipated to take location right after the Muslim vacation of Eid, which ends on Saturday, they stated.
An Afghan army officer at Kandahar Airfield, who asked not to be named, told AFP that government forces would be left exposed by the pullout.
“It is now going to be very difficult for us to conduct operations,” he stated. “Our aircraft can’t fly at night so the night operations are going to be difficult.”
At its height, the airfield was the second biggest base for US and international troops and the 1st airfield exactly where US forces have been stationed right after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
It was also the centre of the most significant drone operation by US specific forces in Afghanistan.
The military has for years been steadily decreasing its presence there, accelerated right after Washington struck a deal with the Taliban last year to totally withdraw from Afghanistan in return for safety guarantees.
However, the US missed the May 1 deadline, extending it to September 11 — a move which angered the Taliban.
Although fighting amongst the US forces and the Taliban has stopped due to the fact the landmark agreement last year, battles rage every day amongst Afghan government forces and the militants, and have intensified due to the fact the missed deadline.
The Taliban and Afghan forces are presently in the middle of a 3-day ceasefire which has provided a respite for Afghans across the nation as they celebrate the Muslim vacation.
The Pentagon on Tuesday stated it had so far completed amongst six and 12 % of its final withdrawal.
The following day, the Afghan defence ministry announced that it had taken manage of Camp Morehead, a US base in Kabul exactly where American troops educated the Afghan military.
The camp will now be employed by Afghan specific forces.
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