Despite Joe Biden’s promise to bring home all U.S. citizens who wanted to escape Afghanistan, the last U.S. military plane departed from Kabul on Monday leaving behind hundreds of Americans.
Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command, announced that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was complete after the final C-17 flights left the country.
“The last C-17 lifted off from Hamad Karzai International Airport on August 30, this afternoon, at 3:29 p.m., East Coast time. And the last manned aircraft is now clear of the airspace above Afghanistan,” he said, according to Defense One.
Hundreds of United States citizens were left behind, however, even after Biden signaled that he would be sure all Americans who wanted to be evacuated, would be.
Gen. McKenzie reportedly told ABC News, “We did not get out everybody that we wanted to get out.” He added the the State Department will work diplomatically to rescue Americans remaining in Afghanistan.
“There’s a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get out everybody that we wanted to get out,” he stated.
While even one American left behind would be a tragedy, Gen. McKenzie admitted that those “who couldn’t make it to the airport” were in the “low hundreds,” Breitbart reported.
The decision to leave Americans behind in Afghanistan comes just days after Biden promised, “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby noted that Americans left behind after the completed withdrawal would be assisted by the State Department to aid in their return.
Biden’s failure to keep his word in getting Americans home comes after 13 U.S. military members were killed in a suicide bombing committed by ISIS-K last Thursday.