- The United States Evacuated its Last Soldiers from Afghanistan
- The European Union has Removed the United States from its Safe Travel List
- A Slowdown Signal in Pandemic Purchases from the ECB Official
The United States Evacuated its Last Soldiers from Afghanistan
The 20-year presence of American troops in Afghanistan has officially come to an end. “I am here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of our military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans,” said General Kenneth McKenzie, Commander of the US Central Command. He also said that in addition to the anti-rocketers, more than 90 armored vehicles and 73 aircraft were rendered unusable and left at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport.
Explaining that all his military activities in Afghanistan have been completed, McKenzie said, “This was not a cheap mission. A total of 2,461 American soldiers were killed, and more than 20,000 were injured, 13 of them in the Daesh bomb attack last week.” said. According to McKenzie, they evacuated 123,000 people during the 18-day withdrawal period.
McKenzie, who also gave information about the equipment at the airport, said that some equipment was brought while others were left there after being rendered unusable.
Stating that they did not hand over the Kabul airport to the Taliban, but they coordinated with the Taliban during the withdrawal, McKenzie noted that he did not foresee any future coordination with the Taliban.
The European Union has Removed the United States from its Safe Travel List
On Monday, European Union nations agreed to remove the United States from the EU’s safe travel list, implying that travelers from the United States and five other countries will undergo more restrictions, including COVID-19 tests and quarantines.
Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia have all been removed from the list as well.
The list aims to standardize EU travel laws, but it does not bind individual EU countries, which are free to set their own border procedures.
Some EU countries, such as Germany and Belgium, have already classed the US as a red threat, necessitating testing and quarantines, whereas France and the Netherlands have categorized the US as safe.
Most fully vaccinated non-EU tourists are still allowed into the bloc, though testing and quarantine periods may be required depending on the EU country of arrival.
Despite EU requests, Washington prohibits European nationals from freely visiting. The bloc has been split between those concerned about a lack of reciprocity and an increase in U.S. cases and those who are more reliant on tourism and unwilling to restrict U.S. visitors.
A Slowdown Signal in Pandemic Purchases from the ECB Official
While the global markets continued to price the messages given by the Fed officials at the Jackson Hole meetings, a statement came from the European Central Bank regarding the pandemic purchase programs.
European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council Member and President of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, stated that the authorities should consider more favorable financing conditions when they decide on the pace of purchases within the pandemic emergency purchasing program next week and signaled that a slowdown in these purchases is on the table.
According to Villeroy, any change in this program will not have as much impact as the reduction in asset purchases that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced in Jackson Hole.
Villeroy stated that they are looking for more favorable financing terms in monthly volumes and that these conditions have been more optimistic since the meeting in June.
However, Villeroy pointed out that the ECB can monitor the Fed on interest rates and asset purchases.
