Other once grand U.S. military installations, such as Kandahar Airfield or Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province, have already been completely abandoned. American allies in other provinces, such as the Germans in Mazar I Sharif, are following a similar blueprint. Meanwhile, the Taliban is running amok. The group has taken the manner of the U.S. withdrawal as a sign that a long-awaited military victory could finally be on the horizon. “We strongly believe the U.S. military was terribly defeated in Afghanistan,” Khalid Zadran, a Taliban media official, told The Daily Beast. “And they’re running away from Afghanistan in a hurry.” An ex-minister of the militant group described similar reactions: “Today the Taliban are in the highest military morale,” he said. “And Afghan soldiers are losing the enthusiasm to fight with the Taliban.” The reason for the low-key exit? “The coalition forces are all just terrified of bad press, no one wants a ‘fall of Saigon’ photo opp,” one former British officer turned security consultant told The Daily Beast.