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News | May 25, 2021

Afghanistan Retrograde Nearly One-Quarter Complete

By C. Todd Lopez DOD News

The U.S. plans to be completely out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021. U.S. Central Command announced today they estimate the withdrawal is now somewhere between 16% and 25% complete.

A military aircraft taxis on an airfield.  A man uses a light to direct the aircraft.
A B-52H arrives at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, April 26, 2021. The aircraft is one of several that will participate in protecting U.S. and coalition forces as they conduct drawdown operations in Afghanistan.
A military aircraft taxis on an airfield.  A man uses a light to direct the aircraft.
210426-F-DR848-1093
A B-52H arrives at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, April 26, 2021. The aircraft is one of several that will participate in protecting U.S. and coalition forces as they conduct drawdown operations in Afghanistan.
Photo By: Air Force Staff Sgt. Kylee Gardner
VIRIN: 210426-F-DR848-1093M

Already, the command says, approximately 160 C-17 loads of materiel and equipment have left Afghanistan. Additionally, more than 10,000 pieces of military equipment have been turned over to the Defense Logistics Agency.

A man in a military uniform adjusts straps that are wrapped around a tarp-covered load on a truck.  Another man in a military uniform stands on the bed of the truck.
At Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Staff Sgt. Anderson Gorman loosens straps holding down palletized bundles of munitions retrograded from Afghanistan, May 6, 2021. Pfc. Breneck Richards inspects the load from atop the truck's flatbed.
A man in a military uniform adjusts straps that are wrapped around a tarp-covered load on a truck.  Another man in a military uniform stands on the bed of the truck.
Strap Fix
At Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Staff Sgt. Anderson Gorman loosens straps holding down palletized bundles of munitions retrograded from Afghanistan, May 6, 2021. Pfc. Breneck Richards inspects the load from atop the truck's flatbed.
Photo By: Army Staff Sgt. Neil W. McCabe
VIRIN: 210506-A-VQ285-102
U.S.-controlled installations in Afghanistan must also be returned to the Afghan Defense Ministry, and so far, five installations have been handed back.

After 20 years, the U.S. is leaving Afghanistan because the mission there is complete, said Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby during a press briefing today at the Pentagon.

"The president has been very clear that our troops accomplished the mission for which they were sent to Afghanistan," Kirby said. "That was to prevent the country from being used as a safe haven for terrorist attacks on our homeland, and there hasn't been another attack on the homeland emanating from Afghanistan since 9/11. So the president believes the mission has been completed."

Now, Kirby said, there is a new mission: withdrawal from Afghanistan and development of a new relationship with the government of Afghanistan and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

The United States will create a "new bilateral relationship with Afghanistan across the government: diplomatically, economically, politically and certainly from a security perspective," Kirby said. "Our relationship with Afghan National Defense and Security Forces will continue, but it will continue in a different way."

The U.S. is not leaving the Centcom region outright, however. There are still threats in the region, and Kirby said the U.S. will be ready to meet those threats by strengthening existing "over-the-horizon" capabilities there and growing new ones.

Two trucks move across a dusty field.
Tractor-trailer trucks arrive May 6, 2021, at the ammunition supply point at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. They carry palletized bundles of munitions retrograded from Afghanistan.
Two trucks move across a dusty field.
Ammunition Supply
Tractor-trailer trucks arrive May 6, 2021, at the ammunition supply point at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. They carry palletized bundles of munitions retrograded from Afghanistan.
Photo By: Army Staff Sgt. Neil W. McCabe
VIRIN: 210506-A-VQ285-105M

Kirby said the U.S. already has some over-the-horizon capacity in the region, by virtue of forces already stationed there and long-range capabilities that are outside the region.

"We know we need to think through this more deliberately and more thoughtfully going forward as we get closer to completing the withdrawal, and we're working on that," he said.


Editor's note: The original story can be viewed on the Defense Department website.