Looters invaded Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase after US left without telling new commander
- US announced last Friday that its forces had vacated its biggest airfield in Afghanistan
- Americans left behind 3.5 million items including vehicles, small weapons and ammunition
The US left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.
Afghanistan’s army showed off the sprawling airbase on Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicentre of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the September attacks on America.
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US troops leave Bagram Airfield as withdrawal from Afghanistan nears completion
“We (heard) some rumour 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,“ General Mir Asadullah Kohistani, Bagram’s new commander said.
A US military spokesman did not address the specific complaints of many Afghan soldiers who inherited the abandoned airfield, instead referring to a statement last week.
