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Afghanistan updates: US, Taliban hold first direct talks since withdrawal
State Dept. spokesperson Ned Price called the talks "candid and professional."
It's been more than a month since the U.S. withdrew all U.S. troops from Afghanistan on President Joe Biden's order to leave by Aug. 31, ending a chaotic evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control of the country.
In testimony to Congress last month, their first since the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, candidly admitted that they had recommended to Biden that the U.S. should keep a troop presence there, appearing to contradict his assertions to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.
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Number of Americans left in Afghanistan in the 'low 100s'
There are still Americans left in Afghanistan that the United States is trying to get out of the country, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said.
"I believe our Department of State is going to work very hard to allow any American citizens that are left, and we think the citizens that were not brought out number in the low -- very low 100s," McKenzie said. "I believe that we're going to be able to get those people out."
There were no evacuees left at the airport when the last U.S. flight left, he said.
McKenzie also said the U.S. would also "negotiate very hard, and very aggressively, to get our other Afghan partners out."
Largest noncombatant evacuation in US military history: McKenzie
In his remarks, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said the evacuation effort in Kabul was the largest noncombatant evacuation in U.S. military's history.
Since Aug. 14 and over an 18-day period, U.S. Military aircraft have evacuated more than 79,000 civilians from Hamid Karzai International Airport, McKenzie said.
"That includes 6,000 Americans and more than 73,500 third country nationals and Afghan civilians, he said. "This last category includes special immigrant visas, consular staff, at-risk Afghans and their families. In total, U.S. and coalition aircraft combined to evacuate more than 123,000 civilians which were enabled by U.S. military service members who were securing and operating the airfield."
On average, McKenzie said the U.S. evacuated 100,000 civilians per day, which includes 16 days of evacuations and over 19,000 people on a single day. These numbers do not include the roughly 5,000 service members and their equipment that was sent to Afghanistan to secure the airfield and who were withdrawn at the conclusion of the mission, he continued.
Final US plane has cleared Afghan airspace
The final American plane lifted off from Kabul's airport at 3:29 p.m. ET Monday and has cleared Afghan airspace, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, announced at a Pentagon briefing.
"Tonight's withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20 year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after Sept. 11, 2001," McKenzie said Monday.
All US troops have departed Afghanistan: Pentagon
All U.S. troops have departed Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense, concluding America's military ground presence there and its longest war.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, made the announcement from the headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida, after being introduced in the Pentagon Briefing Room by press secretary John Kirby.
Acknowledging that the withdrawal has been completed, McKenzie said the last U.S. military plane has cleared Afghan airspace.
He said that the U.S. military's 20-year mission in Afghanistan is over.