- Afghan locals started hawking contraband after looters ransacked Bagram Air Base over the weekend
- Bicycles, helmet, laptop computers, and pieces of scrap were sold after the looting over the weekend
- Massive base includes 50-bed hospital and giant hangar size tents filled with supplies such as furniture
- Americans also left a fleet of SUVs without the keys to start them as well as hundreds of armored vehicles
- Since 2001, Bagram Air Base north of Kabul served as a linchpin for the US war in Afghanistan
- At its peak in 2012, Bagram saw more than 100,000 U.S. and NATO troops pass through sprawling compound
- Last week, US soldiers left the base as the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan comes to an end
- The soldiers left without telling local officials, meaning its gates were left unsecured
- On Friday morning, locals moved in under the cover of darkness and looted several buildings
- US-backed Afghan forces gained control of the base, but it remains a shell of its former self
- Photos taken on Friday show the base eerily quiet and almost abandoned
- There are now fears it will be taken over by the Taliban who are gaining increasing control across Afghanistan
Afghan locals started hawking basketballs, stereo speakers, laptop computers, bicycles and helmets, desk fans, guitars, and anything 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 Friday.
The US left Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away 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.
The US announced Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.
The Americans left behind a fleet of sport utility trucks and mine-resistant vehicles as well as a notorious prison and fortified walls.
