Omar Sobhan/Reuters
On Sunday, U.S.-led forces formally ended the combat mission they began in Afghanistan over a decade ago in 2001. U.S. and NATO forces held a ceremony at their Kabul military headquarters to officially end their involvement in the war in Afghanistan. However, 13,5000 troops will remain in Afghanistan as part of a transition to a supporting role, which will begin in 2015. Of those troops, nearly 11,000 will come from the U.S., which has led many critics to claim that the end to the Afghan war is mostly symbollic. The impending withdrawal of forces has led to a spike in violent attacks in the region. Some worry that Afghan forces are not ready to handle the Taliban and other insurgents without greater U.S. support, especially with new restrictions on U.S. airstrike interventions. “To be honest, it’s not fine,” one Afghan official told the Wall Street Journal. “If there is no air support, there won’t be too much difference between our forces and the Taliban.”