Mission accomplished, focused on pulling people, equipment out of Afghanistan: US DefSec SECTIONS Last Updated: Jun 11, 2021, 03:34 PM IST Share Synopsis "We are doing a lot of things over the horizon now. Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions are being flown from GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, a lot of our combat aircraft missions are being conducted from platforms in the Gulf. New York Times Related Asserting that the United States' mission in Afghanistan has been accomplished, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has said the department is focused on "retrograding its people and equipment" out of the country. US President Joe Biden had in April announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades.