The Pentagon announced Monday that the last American troops were flown out of Afghanistan, in what was seen as an ignomious end by many of the two generations of U.S. service men and women who fought there.

After 20 years of fighting to wrest control of the country from militant Muslim extremists, the Biden Administration’s announcement of the planned withdrawal led to a speedy Taliban march to regain control of the country.

Caught flat-footed, the U.S. was forced to deploy an additional 6,000 troops to maintain control of the Kabul airport to airlift more than 100,000 allies and American citizens to safety, a chaotic effort that resulted in the death of 13 troops in a suicide bomb attack, the first American fatalities in more than a year.

Airlifting the last of the troops this week without further casualties was no doubt a relief to family members, but hundreds of Americans and even more Afghan allies have yet to be evacuated.

The nearly 20-year war ended with a Taliban celebration, as the hardline militants now control more territory than when they last ruled the country.

Efforts to evacuate the remaining Americans and allies depends on the Taliban honoring an agreement to allow those people to leave, officials said.