Kabul, July 2 (IANS) After nearly two decades, the US military has left the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan and has handed it over to Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, sources confirmed on Friday.
At its peak, the airfield, the largest in Afghanistan and located 69 km north of Kabul in the central province of Parwan, witnessed the deployment of more than 100,000 US troops, TOLO News.
The handover of the airfield to Afghan forces shows that last of the roughly 2,500 to 3,500 US troops have left Afghanistan, according to the Defence Ministry sources.
Ahead of leaving the base, dozens of trailer trucks loaded with scrap from destroyed vehicles and equipment that belonged to American troops left the airfield on a daily basis.
Those who purchase the material say that so far, the scrap has been worth millions of dollars, TOLO News reported citing the sources.
Some residents of Bagram said that such equipment should have been handed over to Afghan forces instead of being scrapped by the US military. But US forces have said the equipment will be scrapped so it does not fall into enemy hands.
The Afghan government has said that equipment worth $1 billion will be handed over to the Afghan forces.
US forces started a withdrawal on May 1, a process that is expected to be completed earlier than the given deadline of September 11.