US military: Afghanistan withdrawal process 2 to 6 percent complete

The U.S. military has completed about 2 percent to 6 percent of the process of entirely withdrawing from Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said Tuesday.

Progress on the withdrawal includes moving about 60 C-17 cargo planes worth of material out of Afghanistan, Centcom said in a news release.

In addition, about 1,300 pieces of equipment have been given to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction, the release said.

The U.S. military also officially gave control of its New Antonik base in southern Helmand province to the Afghan National Army, the release said.

Centcom, which said it plans to release weekly updates on the progress of the withdrawal, “will only be providing an approximate range of the percentage of the exit process that is complete” because of concerns about operational security, according to the release.

President Biden last month ordered all U.S. troops to be out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that sparked America’s longest war, with the withdrawal officially kicking off last week.

Amid the pullout, the Taliban has threatened to resume attacks on U.S. and coalition troops that it largely refrained from after signing a deal with the Trump administration last year that set a withdrawal deadline of this past Saturday.

On Monday, the Pentagon said there were some “small harassing attacks” over the weekend that had no effect on the withdrawal.

On Tuesday, Afghan officials said the Taliban launched a major offensive in Helmand. The Ministry of Defense also reported Afghan forces fighting off Taliban attacks in six other provinces over the past 24 hours.