Nearly a decade after a satirical piece ran about 'slipping out' of Afghanistan, American troops unexpectedly cut the power at Bagram as they left.
New details about the U.S. military's sudden, nighttime departure from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, which had been a major hub for the United States and the NATO-led coalition in the country for nearly 20 years, emerged over the weekend. The last Americans reportedly left unannounced, ostensibly for operational security reasons, but they turned off the power, which in turn cut the running water at the base, as they departed. The nature of this withdrawal came as a shock to Afghan troops who are now stationed at the base and created chaos that allowed looters to break in. However, all of this may not have been surprising to whoever wrote a story for the famed satirical "news outlet" The Onion a decade ago that described a very similar end to the U.S. military's presence at this base.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to reveal that American forces had killed the power and shut off the water to the sprawling base late on Friday, July 2, as they withdrew. Other outlets have since reported additional details about what happened at the facility, which, among other things, houses a prison with approximately 5,000 inmates, most of whom are believed to be members of the Taliban or ISIS' franchise in Afghanistan. U.S. officials insist that, while the exact timing of the departure had been kept secret, they had been closely coordinating with their Afghan counterparts regarding the plan for weeks. Afghan authorities, including the new commander at Bagram, have offered very different views of the events.
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