Taliban brags: US troops left Kabul, Afghanistan 'gained full independence'

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The official Twitter account of the Taliban in Afghanistan celebrated the final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Kabul in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Afghanistan time. 

"The last American soldier left Kabul airport at 9pm Afghan time tonight and our country gained full independence. Thank God and blessings," the Taliban account tweeted. 

Taliban troops appeared to celebrate the withdrawal by firing their guns in the air. Iyse Doucet, chief international correspondent for the BBC, shared footage of the "celebratory gunfire."

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Retired 2-Star Army General Vincent Boles told Fox News that the Taliban should not get too comfortable. 

"Be careful what you ask for," Boles said. "Now they have to show they can govern a nation and people that are very different than when they left power. Will the Taliban go forward to the future or pull Afghanistan back to the past? The answer will be in their behavior… behavior is believable."

President Biden had repeatedly pledged to hold to an August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. 

But Biden appears to have broken his promise to stay in Afghanistan until every American has been evacuated.

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command, announced Monday evening that the last of the U.S. troops stationed at the Kabul airport had left, completing the military’s drawdown in the country, even though hundreds of Americans likely remain.

"We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out," McKenzie admitted. 

President Joe Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos during an interview on Aug. 18 that the U.S. military objective in Afghanistan was to get "everyone" out, including Americans and Afghan allies and their families. 

"That's what we're doing now, that's the path we're on. And I think we'll get there," he said. "If there's American citizens left, we're gonna stay to get them all out."

A senior State Department official told Fox News that a "small number" of Americans remain in Afghanistan, putting the number at "below 250."

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Biden has faced loud criticism for failing to renegotiate the deal former President Donald Trump struck with the Taliban and for committing to a full withdrawal by August 31, extending Trump's previous deadline of May 1 but refusing to extend the deadline to enable all Americans who wish to leave the country to do so.

Four U.S. senators and 39 members of the House of Representatives have called for Biden to resign or for him to face the invocation of the 25th Amendment or impeachment. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz, Lauren Boebert, R-Colo, Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and more have demanded Biden resign. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has called for Biden's cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Reps. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., have called for Biden's impeachment.