Australia has completed its formal troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending an almost 20-year military commitment to the war-torn country that claimed 41 ADF members' lives.
The recent departure of Australia's final Defence personnel comes amid reports American troops could complete their exit "within days", and as Taliban fighters continue to retake districts across Afghanistan.
Since 2001 the Australian Defence Force's mission has been to "contain the threat from international terrorism", firstly under Operation Slipper, and then Operation Highroad.
According to the Defence Department's website, Australia currently contributes "around 80 Defence personnel" to NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. They are involved in training, advising and assisting local forces.
However military sources have confirmed to the ABC the last remaining ADF members flew out of Kabul in the middle of June, ahead of a September 11 deadline announced by the United States for the withdrawal of all coalition forces.
"Operation Highroad is done and dusted, but Operation Accordion (the overarching mission in the Middle East) will remain because it has been identified that we still need a staging point in the sandpit," another official said.
United States media reports suggest American troops could complete their withdrawal, or retrograde, "within days" after President Joe Biden outlined an exit strategy in April.
The Australian Defence Department has so far declined to publicly confirm the formal end of its NATO-led mission to Afghanistan or say whether some military personnel will relocate elsewhere in the Middle East.
"On 15 April the Prime Minister announced Australia would finalise the drawdown of our contribution to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan," a Defence spokesperson told the ABC.
"As Australia brings its contribution in Afghanistan to a close, the Minister for Defence will be delivering remarks on Australia's role in the days ahead".
"For operational security reasons, we will not provide further details at this time," the spokesperson added.
At the end of May, Australia became the first country involved in coalition military activity to not only announce military withdrawal by September but the full retreat on its foreign presence, by closing its embassy.
In recent weeks fighting has intensified between Taliban militants and Afghan forces, with many government-held districts falling into the hands of the former enemy.
Uruzgan, where Australian troops served for close to a decade, could be the first entire province to fall back under Taliban control as foreign militaries withdraw from the war-torn country.
The former chief of army, retired Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, said the formal departure of Australia's last troops was an enormously significant occasion.
"It signifies the end of an era for the ADF, I think we've all known that it's been coming for a long time but it's no easier to accept now that it's here," he said.
"I find it as an occasion to reflect and remember, and some of the reflections and remembrances are not easy."
Lieutenant General Leahy said his thoughts were particularly with the families of the 41 Australian soldiers who died in the conflict, as well as the many others who suffered physical and mental injuries from their service.
Germany, which had the second largest contingent of troops after the United States in Afghanistan, announced on Tuesday that it had concluded its withdrawal from the nation.
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