According to this, U.S. troops began withdrawing in early July, which sounds about right from what I remember hearing on the TV news. I also remember that the Taliban was advancing right behind the withdrawing troops. I heard that some people were surprised by this, but I remember saying to the TV, "What did you think was going to happen?" The TV, as usual, refused to answer me. At some point, Biden announced that he was sending a few thousand soldiers back in to help with the evacuation effort, so I presume that most of them had previously departed. The article also says that 16,000 contractors, who I assume were civilians, were "abruptly" pulled out, but it doesn't say when that happened. Be that as it may, I still maintain that all of the civilians should have been evacuated before the troops were withdrawn.
In comparing Afghanistan to Vietnam, several articles I have read said that almost two years passed between the the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the fall of Saigon. Yet it was necessary to evacuate civilians from the U.S. embassy roof by helicopter as the Vietcong closed in. A number of Vietnamese civilians were tragically left behind in the rush. One might excuse the chaotic nature of the Afghanistan evacuation because the Taliban moved in so quickly, but there is no excuse for what happened in Saigon.
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