Last U.S. troops depart Afghanistan after massive airlift ending America's longest war

FILE PHOTO: U.S. soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, arrive to provide security in support of Operation Allies Refuge at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2021. Senior Airman Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS /File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Monday completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan after a huge but chaotic airlift that cost the lives of 13 U.S. troops and left behind thousands of Afghans and hundreds of Americans still seeking an escape from Taliban rule.

In a first in the nearly 20 years since al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks plunged the United States into war, not a "single service member" from the U.S. military was in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in an afternoon news conference.