Photo Credit: AP

The United States on Monday completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war. More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Kabul in a massive but chaotic airlift by the United States and its allies over the past two weeks.

The last of the American troops overseeing a desperate evacuation effort flew out of Kabul airport on Monday night, completing a withdrawal that has raised deep questions about the United States’ status as a superpower.

Taliban fighters quickly swept into the airport and fired weapons into the sky in jubilation, celebrating an astonishing victory for the hardline Islamist movement two decades after US forces invaded Afghanistan and toppled them from power.

However, the Taliban will inherit a devastated country despite the United States spending billions to rebuild it, with deep poverty, drought and Islamic State threats among the many challenges.

The withdrawal came just before the end of a 31 August deadline set by President Joe Biden to call time on America’s longest war — one that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US service members.

The early finish followed a threat from the regional offshoot of the Islamic State group, rivals of the Taliban, which was seeking to attack the US forces at the airport.

Thirteen US troops were among more than 100 people killed when an IS suicide bomber late last week attacked the perimeter of the airport, where desperate Afghans had massed in hope of getting on board an evacuation flight.

More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Kabul aboard the US-led airlift operation, which began just after the Taliban swept into the capital on August 14.