- US forces departed Bagram Airfield, a major base in Afghanistan, at 3 a.m. on Friday.
- They left behind numerous items, from energy drinks and MREs to armored vehicles, the AP reported.
- When US forces left, they cut off the power. Then looters rolled in, grabbing what they could.
When US forces pulled out of Bagram Airfield, a strategic air base in Afghanistan, in the middle of the night last week, they left behind a lot of things, from bottles of water and energy drinks to civilian and armored vehicles, an Afghan general told The Associated Press.
The US military withdrawal from Afghanistan is 90% complete, US Central Command announced Tuesday. Bagram was the seventh facility the US military has transferred to the Afghan security forces.
The command said 984 C-17 transport aircraft loads of materials have been flown out of the country. Over 17,000 pieces of equipment have been destroyed. And some other supplies have been purposefully transferred to the Afghans.
But given the rushed nature of the withdrawal, expected to be largely complete by the end of August, it seems like some things are simply getting left behind.
Bagram's new Afghan commander, Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, told the BBC that US troops left Bagram Airfield at around 3 a.m. last Friday. US and partner forces have continuously occupied the base since it was captured during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
US forces reportedly left without telling Kohistani, who claimed he did not even know the American troops were gone until hours after their departure. The US military says that it coordinated the withdrawal with Afghan leadership, but the exact hour of departure was not discussed due to operational security concerns.
Kohistani told the AP that US forces left behind some 3.5 million items, some larger than others. That list included things like phones and building materials like doors, doorknobs, and windows.
Among the things the US military left were tens of thousands of bottles of water and energy drinks, as well as meals ready-to-eat, or MREs, the AP reported. There were also some personal items, like a guitar.
Troops left thousands of civilian vehicles, including many that no longer had keys, and hundreds of armored military vehicles, such as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs.
US forces also left some ammunition and weaponry, though most of the heavy weapons were taken by the departing troops or destroyed, the AP reported. The Pentagon acknowledged that some vehicles were left but denied that weapons had been left behind.
When US forces left Bagram, they shut off the power to the base. In the darkness in the dead of night, looters rolled in, grabbing anything and everything, from used laptops to gas canisters. Some Afghans who got their hands on the gear have been seen selling secondhand US military equipment.
The AP reported that on Monday, Afghan soldiers at Bagram Airfield were seen cleaning up trash left by the looters.
As the US withdraws its forces — sometimes in a manner that appears at odds with the "orderly and safe" departure the Pentagon has said it seeks — Taliban insurgents have been gaining ground, especially in parts of northern Afghanistan.
"You look at the security situation, it's not good. The Afghans recognize it's not good. The Taliban are on the move. We're starting to create conditions here that won't look good for Afghanistan in the future if there's a push for a military takeover," Gen. Scott Miller, the top US general in Afghanistan, said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
"We should be concerned," he said, adding that he fears that people will lose hope and accept that the collapse of the Afghan government is a foregone conclusion.
Some intelligence assessments have suggested the Afghan government could fall within six to 12 months of the withdrawal of US forces, but both US President Joe Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have pushed back on these assessments.
