Darwaish Rafi, Afghanistan's district administrator for Bagram said that the American departure occurred overnight without coordination with local officials. As a result, early Friday saw dozens of looters storm the gates unprotected before Afghan forces regained power.Raufi said that they were stopped and that some of them have been taken into custody. The rest have been removed from the base. Raufi also stated to The Associated Press that looters ransacked many buildings before being captured by the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces.Raufi stated that the Americans fled without having contacted Bagram district officials and the governors' office. Our Afghan security forces are currently in control of the base from both the inside and outside.Fawad Aman was the defense minister's deputy spokesperson. He did not mention the looting in the early hours of the morning. Fawad Aman, the defense minister's deputy spokesman, said that only the base had been transferred and that the ANDSF would protect it and use it for fighting terrorism.Bagram Airfield's withdrawal is the most clear indication that the last of the 2,500-3,500 U.S. soldiers have left Afghanistan, or are close to leaving, months before President Joe Biden's promise that they would be gone by September 11.Soon after the U.S. announced in mid-April that it was ending its forever war with Iraq, it became clear that the departure of U.S. troops and the estimated 7,000 NATO allies was closer to July 4, when America celebrates Independence Day.As of this week, most NATO soldiers had quietly left. The Associated Press has analyzed announcements from several European countries and found that a majority have left without much ceremony. This contrasts with the public display of force and unity in which NATO allies backed the U.S. invasion of 2001.The U.S. refused to give a date for the departure of the last U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan. This was due to security concerns. However, negotiations are ongoing regarding the protection of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. The airport is currently being protected by U.S. and Turkish soldiers. This protection is currently provided by the Resolute Support Mission. It is the military mission that is being ended.The Resolute Support mission will continue to be in effect until a new agreement is reached between Turkey and Afghanistan for airport protection.To protect the sprawling U.S. Embassy in Kabul, about 650 soldiers will be stationed in Afghanistan. It is believed that their presence will be covered by a bilateral agreement with Afghanistan's government.As Taliban insurgents take strides in many parts of Afghanistan, they overthrow dozens of districts and overwhelm the beleaguered Afghan Security Forces.Worryingly, the government has revived militias that have a history of violence and brutality to aid the Afghan security forces. This week, Gen. Miller warned that violence could lead to civil war in Afghanistan.Bagram Airfield was home to more than 100,000 U.S. troops at its peak in 2012, just an hour north of Kabul.There is much symbolism in the departure. Bagram is now the second place that an invading force from Afghanistan has passed through.In the 1950s, the Soviet Union constructed the airfield. It turned the airfield into its main base to defend Afghanistan's occupation after it invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The Soviets fought the U.S. backed mujahedeen for 10 years. They were called freedom fighters by Ronald Reagan who considered them a front-line force in one the last Cold War battles.Bagram was left in ruins by the U.S., NATO, and other countries when they took over in 2001. They found a number of buildings in disrepair, and most of its perimeter fence had been destroyed. After being battered by the Taliban and rival mujahedeen warriors fleeing to northern enclaves, it was abandoned.Two runways are available at the base's enormous size. The longest, measuring 12,000 feet, was constructed in 2006 at a cost $96 million. There are 110 revetments which are basically aircraft parking spaces, and are protected by blast walls. GlobalSecurity, an international security think tank, states that Bagram has three large hangars and a control tower, as well as many support buildings. There is a 50-bed hospital, three operating theatres, and a modern dental office. A prison is also located in another section, which is well-known and highly feared by Afghans.Officials from Afghanistan did not immediately comment on the U.S.'s final withdrawal of Bagram Airfield from NATO allies.
