‘This is what Americans do. They destroy absolutely everything.’

The US is vacating Bagram airbase as part of its plan to withdraw all forces by this year’s 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Squatting in the dust by the main road to Afghanistan’s biggest airbase, Mir Salam sifts through a pile of broken electronics in front of him, salvaged from departing troops of the United States. All around are heaps of junk and scrapped equipment, ranging from telephones and thermos flasks to computer keyboards and printer cartridges. “This is what the Americans do,” the 40-year-old told AFP news agency. “They destroy absolutely everything.”