A gray American transport plane taxied down the runway, carrying munitions, a giant flat screen television from a C.I.A. base, pallets of equipment and departing troops. It was one of several aircraft that night removing what remained of the American war from this sprawling military base in the country\u2019s south.<\/p>\n
President Biden has said that the United States will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11<\/a>, ending the country\u2019s longest war on foreign soil \u2014 but the pullout has already begun.<\/p>\n The United States and its NATO allies spent decades building Kandahar Airfield into a wartime city, filled with tents, operations centers, barracks, basketball courts, ammunition storage sites, aircraft hangars and at least one post office.<\/p>\n Once the base is stripped of everything deemed sensitive by its American and NATO landlords, its skeleton will be handed over to the Afghan security forces.<\/p>\n And the message will be clear: They are on their own in the fight against the Taliban.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n The end of the war looked nothing like the beginning of it >> a fabulous, slightly surreal report from Afghanistan by @Tmgneff<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/xF2A97hfZM<\/a><\/p>\n — david pilling (@davidpilling) May 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n