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US forces leave Kandahar Airfield as drawdown continues
U.S. forces have left Kandahar Airfield, a base that was once one of the largest NATO and coalition installations in the country, Afghan and U.S. officials told Stars and Stripes.
The airfield has been transferred to the Afghan security forces, a U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
According to Stripes, one official said coalition personnel may remain in Kandahar for “a day or two” to address security concerns. He did not however say exactly when the base was handed over.
Stripes reported that the NATO Resolute Support press office declined to comment on the airfield’s status Thursday while the Afghan Defense Ministry said earlier this week that the handover wouldn’t occur until sometime after Eid-ul-Fitr.
Stripes also reported the U.S. did not hold a handover ceremony at the base, which housed an estimated 30,000 troops and contractors at the height of the war.
According to Stripes, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s 205th Atal Military Corps Khwaja Yahya Alvi, US forces left the base without coordinating with Afghan forces.
He said the move left Afghan officials uncertain whether the U.S. left Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
“The Americans have vacated their bases and they have left,” Alvi said.
An Afghan security official at the Kandahar airport confirmed that U.S. troops left this week without a ceremony, reported Stripes.
“They left in the night” and there are no more U.S. forces in Kandahar, “not at this moment,” said General Faqir Qowahi, commander of the military side of Kandahar Airport.
Massoud Pashtoon, the facility’s director of civil aviation, also told Stars and Stripes that U.S. troops had left.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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