Inside the last flights from Kabul to end America’s longest war

New photos released on Tuesday night show the final moments of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, as the 82nd Airborne Division departed and America’s longest war came to a close. The commander of the 82nd Airborne, Major General Christopher Donahue, was the last soldier out – pictured striding onto the last plane out of Kabul on Monday night. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3:29pm Washington time on Monday, or one minute before midnight in Kabul. After the final flight, Donahue received a phone call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had watched the final 90 minutes of the military evacuation from a basement operations center in the Pentagon, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. On Tuesday new images showed his troops leaving the country and flying to Kuwait.

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division on Monday night prepare to board a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.

The troops are seen in Kabul on Monday shortly before boarding their midnight flight out.

The C-17 has been the workhorse of evacuations from Kabul. The U.S. forces oversaw the departure of 116,000 people in two weeks.

The soldiers are seen boarding the plane at the end of the evacuation mission from Kabul on Monday.

An Air Force loadmaster guides the troops from the 82nd Airborne onto the plane on Monday night.

The soldiers from 82nd Airborne are seen getting off the plane in Kuwait after a flight of around four hours.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the US troop withdrawal from Kabul was an ‘extraordinary success’ and blamed Donald Trump and local soldiers for the chaos in Afghanistan.

Families of the fallen U.S. service members were left disappointed by Joe Biden at the dignified transfer on Sunday. One sister of a fallen Marine yelled at the president: ‘That was my brother!’

An Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircrew, assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, prepares to receive soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, in Kabul airport on Monday night.

The lights of Kabul twinkle in the distance as the final plane readied to leave the Afghan capital.

Paratroopers keep watch as the final U.S. military plane out of Kabul readies for departure on Monday.

A soldier assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division signs a piece of paper in support of the final noncombatant evacuation operation missions on Monday.

The stars and stripes hangs in the rear of the plane as the troops begin their journey home.

Soldiers with the 82nd Airborne division board the final plane out of Kabul on Monday.

Troops are pictured on the C-17 on Monday, flying out of Kabul at the end of the mission.

Paratroopers board the final military plane out of Kabul on Monday.

Major General Christopher Donahue, 52, was the last soldier to leave Kabul. He boarded the final U.S. Air Force flight out of Afghanistan, at one minute before midnight on Monday.

Donahue is currently the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Donahue, 52, has three decades of experience, serving in South Korea and Panama before leading troops in the Middle East and North Africa.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, Commander of the U.S. Central Command, speaks from MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa during a virtual briefing moderated by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Monday.

Donahue (center) is pictured with his men on the tarmac in Afghanistan.

Donahue said that commanding the 82nd Airborne Division is the ‘coolest’ job of his storied career.

Donahue is seen at the change of command ceremony in Fort Bragg in July 2020.

Donahue is pictured (far right) in Afghanistan – one of his 17 deployments in 30 years.

A CH-47 Chinook from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division is loaded onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III on Saturday as the troops prepared to depart.

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken look on as as a carry team moves a transfer case with the remains of Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind., during a casualty return at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday.

The diplomats above, including Amb. Ross Wilson, were some of the last to leave Kabul as the embassy closed out of Afghanistan and transferred its mission to Qatar.

One of the last US Air Force aircraft takes off from the airport in Kabul on August 30.

Taliban forces flying their flag drive down the runway at Kabul airport in an American Humvee after troops withdrew.

Taliban take control of Hamid Karzai International Airport after the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 31.

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