Afghan And American Officials Dispute The Details Of The U.S. Pullout From Bagram

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/06/ [login to see] /the-u-s-left-an-afghan-airfield-at-night-without-telling-the-new-commander
Five days after the final U.S. troops left Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, the Pentagon is defending itself from criticism by Afghan military officials who have accused the U.S. of secretly slipping out overnight, shutting off the electricity and prompting a security lapse that allowed looters to scavenge the facilities before Afghan troops were able to retake control.

It is the latest mishap in the U.S. military withdrawal from the country after 20 years of military presence, a process President Biden has promised will be complete by Sept. 11.

Bagram Airfield, about an hour's drive from Kabul, was the center of operations for the longest-running war in U.S. history. It housed tens of thousands of troops at its peak, with planes and helicopters coming and going at all hours.

A story published Monday by The Associated Press cited Afghan military officials in reporting that U.S. forces had left the base overnight without notifying the new Afghan commander.

"We (heard) some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram ... and finally by seven o'clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram," Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, the new commander at Bagram, told the AP.