Afghanistan War Formally Ends

Via CBS News:

The United States and NATO formally ended their war in Afghanistan on Sunday with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul as the insurgency they fought for 13 years remains as ferocious and deadly as at any time since the 2001 invasion that unseated the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11 attacks. The symbolic ceremony marked the end of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, which will transition to a supporting role with 13,500 soldiers, most of them American, starting Jan. 1. Gen. John Campbell, commander of ISAF, rolled up and sheathed the green and white ISAF flag and unfurled the flag of the new international mission, called Resolute Support.

More from NBC News:

President Barack Obama marked the formal end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan Sunday, saying that after 13 years the longest war in American history was coming to a "responsible conclusion." "For more than 13 years, ever since nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken from us on 9/11, our nation has been at war in Afghanistan," Obama said in a statement that came hours after the United States and NATO formally ended the war with a ceremony Sunday at a military headquarters in Kabul. Obama said the ceremony marked a milestone for the nation and thanked U.S. troops and intelligence personnel for their "extraordinary sacrifices." Approximately 2,200 American troops were killed in Afghanistan in a war that cost the U.S. $1 trillion since the initial invasion in 2001. "We are safer, and our nation is more secure, because of their service," he said, adding that the war effort helped the Afghan people reclaim their communities and hold historic democratic elections.