Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander, Central Command, right, meets with Afghan Minister of Defense, General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, second from left, in Kabul to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan, July 25, 2021. McKenzie reiterated support to the government’s plan for the defense of Afghanistan through air strikes, contract logistics support, intelligence sharing, and funding for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). “We had a very good dialogue on the government's defense plan as they work to stabilize the security situation and to blunt the Taliban offens


On 14 April 2021, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan by May after the withdrawal of NATO troops started, the Taliban launched an offensive against the Afghan government, quickly advancing in front of collapsing Afghan government to a intelligence report, the Afghan government would likely collapse within six months after NATO completes its withdrawal from the country. On August 15, 2021, as the Taliban once again controlled a vast majority of Afghan territory, the Taliban began capturing the capital city of Kabul, and many civilians, government officials and foreign diplomats were evacuated. President Ghani fled Afghanistan that day.


Size: 6160px × 4656px
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Photo credit: © American Photo Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: .., afghanistan, afghanistanretrograde, air, airport, base, biden, bismillah, centcom, chief, clearing, commander, decision, drawdown, frank, gen., general, hamid, helicopter, international, joe, kabul, karzai, khan, leave, leaving, load, loading, mckenzie, military, mohammadi, ofs, presdent, pullout, retrograde, states, surrender, taliban, united, unitedstates, uscentcom, victory, war