After almost 20 years, Allied Forces have left Bagram Airfield, the epicentre of the war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America.
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The airfield has been handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defence Force, local officials said on condition they not be identified because they were not authorised to release the information to the media.
One of the officials also said the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Austin S. Miller, "still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces".
Afghanistan's district administrator for Bagram, Darwaish Raufi, said the American departure took place overnight without the knowledge of local officials, and early on Friday dozens of looters stormed through the unprotected gates before Afghan forces regained control.
"They were stopped and some have been arrested and the rest have been cleared from the base," Raufi told The Associated Press.
"Unfortunately the Americans left without any co-ordination with Bagram district officials or the governor's office," Raufi said.
"Right now our Afghan security forces are in control both inside and outside of the base."
The withdrawal from Bagram is the clearest indication the last of up to 3500 US troops have left Afghanistan, or are nearing departure, months ahead of President Joe Biden's promise they would be gone by September 11.
It was clear soon after the mid-April announcement the US was ending its "forever war" the departure of US soldiers and their estimated 7000 NATO allies would be nearer to July 4, when America celebrates its Independence Day.
Most NATO troops have already quietly exited.
The US has refused to say when the last soldiers will leave Afghanistan, citing security concerns, with the protection of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport still being negotiated.
Turkish and US troops are currently protecting the airport.
The US will also retain about 6500 troops in Afghanistan to protect its sprawling embassy in the capital Kabul. Their presence is understood to be covered in a bilateral agreement with the Afghan government.
The forces' departure comes as Taliban insurgents make gains in several parts of the country, overrunning dozens of districts and overwhelming Afghan security forces.
In a worrying development, the government has resurrected militias with a history of brutal violence to assist the Afghan forces.
At what had all the hallmarks of a final press conference, General Miller this week warned continued violence risked a civil war in Afghanistan that should have the world worried.
The departure is rife with symbolism. Not least because it is the second time an invader of Afghanistan has come and gone through Bagram.
The Soviet Union built the airfield in the 1950s. When it invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to back a communist government, it turned it into its main base from which to defend its occupation of the country.
For 10 years, the Soviets fought the US-backed mujahedeen, dubbed freedom fighters by then president Ronald Reagan, who saw them as a frontline force in one of the last Cold War battles.
There was no immediate comment from Afghan officials as to the final withdrawal from Bagram by the US and its NATO allies.
Australian Associated Press
