The US plans to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of August

The United States plans to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of August, days earlier than initially planned, although it will maintain a diplomatic presence in the country, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday.

"Right now, we expect to complete it by the end of August," Psaki said at her daily press briefing.

That timetable is shorter than the one initially envisaged by US President Joe Biden, who had set a deadline of September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that prompted the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Psaki's statement came hours after it became known that US forces had handed over control of Bagram air base, their main military installation in Afghanistan, to the Afghan authorities.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that, "before the end" of the withdrawal process in August, the US will transfer out of Afghanistan thousands of Afghan translators and other workers who have supported US forces during the past two decades of war.

Although Psaki declined to elaborate "for security reasons", CNN reported Friday that Washington is negotiating with Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to take in some of these Afghan workers while they complete a lengthy process to obtain an entry visa to the United States.

The New York Times reported in June that more than 18,000 Afghans who have worked as translators, engineers, drivers, security guards, fixers and US embassy employees during the war are in bureaucratic limbo after applying for the visa, known as SIV.

These applicants also include 53,000 family members. "Our plan is to relocate these people somewhere outside Afghanistan before the end of our military withdrawal," Psaki said.

The White House announcements coincided with that of the Pentagon, which announced on Friday that its military command in Afghanistan - from General Austin "Scott" Miller to General Frank McKenzie - will be replaced in the coming weeks to prepare for the final departure of US forces from Afghan soil.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby explained that Miller, who has served since 2019 as commander of the US Army and the international coalition in Afghanistan, will remain on the ground in the coming weeks to complete the handover of duties and responsibilities to McKenzie, commander of Central Command (CENTCOM).

He further detailed that in this new and final phase, the leadership of the US mission will be split into two parts with a US-Afghanistan Forces forward office in Kabul, headed by Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, and a defence and security cooperation office, based in Qatar.

During an exchange with reporters, President Joe Biden opined that the Afghan government has the capacity to sustain itself after the departure of US troops from its territory and despite the threat from the Taliban.

However, after being asked three times about Afghanistan, Biden became exasperated and said he would not answer any more questions about Afghanistan, then added, visibly annoyed, that this was a "holiday weekend" for US Independence Day, and he wanted to talk about "happy things".

Afterwards, Psaki played down Biden's curt response to reporters on Friday. Psaki said reporters were "drawing too many conclusions" from Biden's reaction, and said she simply wanted to put the issue to rest because he had already answered three questions, not because she did not think it was an important issue.

The drawdown of international troops has coincided with an increase in Taliban offensives and their advance into the territories. Since the beginning of the withdrawal, the insurgents have captured almost 80 of 407 districts from government forces.