Afghans react as US presence enters final phase

After 20 years, the final phase of ending America's "forever war" in Afghanistan formally began on Saturday.

The withdrawal of the last U.S. and NATO troops will be completed by the end of summer.

U.S. President Joe Biden set May 1 as the official start of the withdrawal of the remaining forces — about 2,500-3,500 U.S. troops and around 7,000 NATO soldiers.

Afghan officials were at pains to reassure the public the withdrawal would not leave their forces defenceless and foreign support would continue.

Even before Saturday, the Herculean task of packing up had begun.

The military has been taking inventory, deciding what will be shipped back to the U.S., what is to be handed to the Afghan security forces and what will be sold as junk in Afghanistan's markets.

In recent weeks, the military has been flying out equipment on massive C-17 cargo planes.

The U.S. is estimated to have spent more than $2 trillion in Afghanistan in the past two decades, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University, which documents the hidden costs of the U.S. military engagement.

But Afghans have paid the highest price, with 47,245 civilians killed, according to the Costs of War project.

Millions more have been displaced inside Afghanistan or have fled to Pakistan, Iran and Europe.

Since the start of the war Afghanistan's forces have also taken heavy losses, with estimates ranging from 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan troops killed and the Afghan military has been battered by corruption.

The U.S. and NATO pay $4 billion a year to sustain the force.

Some 300,000 Afghan troops are on the books, although the actual number is believed to be lower.

Commanders have been found to inflate the numbers to collect paychecks of so-called "ghost soldiers," according to the U.S. watchdog monitoring Washington's spending in Afghanistan.