All US and NATO troops have left the biggest air base in Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, signaling that the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from the country was imminent after two decades of war.
Bagram Air Base served as the linchpin for US-led operations in the rugged country, where the long war against the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies started following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“The American and coalition forces have completely withdrawn from the base and henceforth the Afghan army forces will protect it and use it to combat terrorism,” Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman Fawad Aman wrote on Twitter.
Photo: Reuters
A US defense official confirmed their departure, while the Taliban said it welcomed and supported the latest phase of the troop pullout.
“Their full withdrawal will pave the way for Afghans to decide about their future between themselves,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The US military and NATO are in the final stages of winding up involvement in Afghanistan, bringing home an unspecified number of remaining troops by a deadline of Sept. 11.
The Taliban have launched relentless offensives across Afghanistan in the past two months, gobbling up dozens of districts, as Afghan security forces have largely consolidated their power in the country’s major urban areas.
The ability of Afghan forces to maintain control of Bagram airfield would likely prove pivotal to maintaining security in Kabul and keeping pressure on the Taliban.
The exit of foreign forces from the base “symbolizes that Afghanistan is alone, abandoned and left to defend itself against the Taliban’s onslaught,” Australia-based Afghanistan expert Nishank Motwani said.
“Having reached home, Americans and allied forces will now watch what they fought so hard to build over 20 years burn down from afar, and knowing that the Afghan men and women they fought with risk losing everything,” Motwani said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
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SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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