US completes withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan after 20-year war

Forced into a hasty exit, Washington and its NATO allies carried out a chaotic airlift over the past two weeks, but still left behind tens of thousands of Afghans who helped Western countries

The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan on Monday, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power.

Forced into a hasty and humiliating exit, Washington and its NATO allies carried out a massive but chaotic airlift over the past two weeks, but still left behind tens of thousands of Afghans who helped Western countries and might have qualified for evacuation.

Celebratory gunfire rang out in Kabul after completion of the US pullout that ended America's longest war.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf said: "The last US soldier has left Kabul