U.S. NATO Begins Withdrawal from Afghanistan to End Protracted Afghan War
The United States and NATO officially began withdrawing remaining troops from Afghanistan on Saturday (May 1) to end the longest war in U.S. history, the White House and military officials said.
President Joe Biden set May 1 as the official date for the U.S. to begin withdrawing remaining troops from Afghanistan, but the U.S. military has in recent weeks as well begun shipping military equipment out of the country.
Between 2,500 and 3,500 U.S. service members and about 7,000 NATO troops remain in Afghanistan, and all of those service members will be out of the country by the end of this summer.
Meanwhile, Afghan security forces are on high alert for possible Taliban attacks.
U.S. and NATO-allied forces entered Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, in search of terrorists protected by Afghan Taliban leaders who had launched terrorist attacks against the United States. Two months later, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and the fighters he led began to flee. Bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan in 2011.
Brown University’s Costs of War research project says the 20-year war has killed 47,240 Afghan civilians and killed between 66,000 and 69,000 Afghan government soldiers.
The U.S. Department of Defense says about 2,442 U.S. service members have been killed in the war, and U.S. private security contractors estimate 3,800 have died.
1,140 NATO service members have died in the war. The U.S. has paid an estimated more than $2 trillion for the war.
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