Afghan locals started hawking basketballs, stereo speakers, laptop computers, bicycles and helmets, desk fans, guitars, and whatever else they could get their hands on after looters ransacked a now-former American military base that was vacated by departing US soldiers in the dead of night on Friday morning.
The US left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.
Afghanistan’s army showed off the sprawling air base Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicenter of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on America.
