PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — America's longest war is over.
There are no longer any American service members deployed in Afghanistan, but no American civilians made it out on the last five flights out of Kabul. The Biden administration doesn't know exactly how many Americans remain in the Taliban-ruled country.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says they believe there may around 100-200 people still there.
U.S. military forces oversaw the evacuation of about 6,000 Americans in recent weeks. The Biden administration insists the U.S. is committed to Americans who still want to leave Afghanistan.
The State Department says a new chapter of engagement has begun and it is taking the lead, with its diplomatic mission moved to Doha, Qatar.
"Strategically, America must confront the hard reality that we have lost this war," CBS News military consultant and retired Army Col. Jeff McCausland said of lessons to be learned from Afghanistan.
"President Biden has argued the United States accomplish its primary objectives of degrading al Qaeda and fighting Osama Bin Ladin, but it remains an inescapable fact that, since nearly the very onset of this conflict in 2001, the United States established as a goal to make Afghanistan into a democracy and a market economy."
The White House says in a 24-hour span from Sunday to Monday, the U.S. evacuated 1,200 people from Kabul, with 26 military flights and two coalition flights. In a month and a half, U.S. and coalition partners airlifted more than 122,000 people from Afghanistan's capital.