Last plane carrying Americans from Afghanistan departs

KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.S. effort to evacuate remaining civilians and troops from Afghanistan has been completed before the August 31 deadline, the Pentagon said Monday.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our mission in Afghanistan,” Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters in a virtual briefing. “The last C-17 took off at 3:29 pm.”

Heading into the final 24 hours before President Biden’s pullout deadline, U.S. forces stepped up their efforts to get the last evacuees out of Afghanistan safely as ISIS terrorists tried to inflict as much bloodshed, damage and misery as possible before America’s longest war comes to an end.

It comes after last week’s horrific ISIS suicide bombing at an airport gate killed roughly 200 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.

President Biden payed his respects to the fallen at Dover Air Force base over the weekend as 13 families grieved a devastating loss.

The dangerous mission is over, the Pentagon says, an end to America’s longest war.