蜜芽传媒

The US Army has released a photo of its last service member leaving Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul: Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The army said a diplomatic phase would now take over to evacuate those who are still in the country. Thousands who wanted to leave have been left behind - including some US citizens.

Retired Lt-Col Daniel Davis served in Afghanistan and is now a foreign policy analyst with Defense Priorities.

"We lost the war... it can't be spun in any other way.... our original purpose was accomplished in 2002 and as I've argued many times that's when we should have ended the military phase and withdrawn our troops and turned it into a humanitarian operation... But we couldn't do that, we couldn't take the win, we had to turn it into nation building."

(Photo: U.S. Army Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, steps on board a plane and becomes the last U.S. service member to leave the airport in Kabul. Credit: XVIII Airborne Corps/Handout via REUTERS)

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