Kabul airport was at a shocking standstill on Tuesday after the final US flight left the country, bringing the 20-year long war against Afghanistan to an end.
But before leaving, the US made no mistake this time. They made sure they’d leave with a lasting impact and that entailed dismantling at least 73 aircraft and helicopters, leaving them in a severely inoperable state.
Now, the Taliban claim that they are angry and very disappointed at the US for taking part in such behavior. “We feel betrayed,” mentioned one member of the Taliban forces. “Those aircraft belonged to Afghanistan. They destroyed our national assets,” he went on to add.
But that wasn’t the only thing worth noticing at the deserted Kabul airport. Today, the airport appears as a ghost town, surrounded by the planes’ and helicopters’ wreckage. Moreover, there are heaps and piles of trash as well.
The Taliban vowed to have their airport up and running again for commercial purposes within a few days. They also spoke about how they would be willing to allow Afghan citizens to travel again too.
According to a recent report released by the US commander for the evacuation mission, General Frank Mckenzie, US soldiers made sure they demilitarized around 73 different aircraft present on the ground. And that was just hours before their final departure.
Meanwhile, new reports claim that they have left around 48 aircraft in the hands of the Taliban but as of now, it’s still not clear how many of those are actually operable.
A reporter from Al Jazeera released a report, mentioning how the Taliban were left in shock as this wasn’t something they saw coming from the US side. They actually expected the Americans to leave behind a number of helicopters such as this one in one piece so that they could use it.
The reporter gave viewers a tour of the airport’s daunting condition, asking the Taliban why they would expect the US to do something like that. And that’s when the response came that it was not their aircraft but in fact assets that belonged to Afghanistan.