Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4l181wcd701yuhk/VRP58629.mp4?dl=0
U.S. forces disabled military equipment stored in an airport in Kabul as evacuation operations in Afghanistan ended this week.
Footage shows several firearms burnt at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which also served as a military compound for US forces.
Marine General Frank McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, said dozens of pieces of military equipment, vehicles, and aircraft had been ‘demilitarized’, rendering them useless to Taliban soldiers.
He said: ‘It’s a complex procedure, complex and time-intensive procedure to break down those systems so we de-militarized those systems so that they’ll never be used again, and we just felt it more important to protect our forces than to bring those systems back.’
The U.S. pullout was completed one minute before midnight struck in Kabu on Monday night.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said America’s withdrawal signals the start of Afghanistan’s ‘complete independence’.
He said: ‘At 12 o’clock tonight, the last American troops left Kabul airport, on which account Afghanistan was completely liberated and independent.’