Last international forces airlifted from key base in Afghanistan --- (Reuters) - A fleet of planes and helicopters airlifted the last U.S. and British forces from a key base in southern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after the international coalition closed the massive facility and handed it over to the Afghan military. -- The troops' withdrawal and base closure in the province of Helmand is one of the largest operations in the winding down of the international combat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after the toppling of the radical, Islamist Taliban regime. -- Monday's withdrawal operation passed off peacefully as part of a planned drawdown, though there was a sense of deja vu among some soldiers. -- "It was surreal," said Marine communications officer Captain -- Anthony Nguyen, 33, of Houston, Texas. -- "We're not refugees or anything, but it kind of reminding me of scenes of Vietnam, of people running to the helicopters ... just this mad dash to the aircraft," added Nguyen, who is Vietnamese-American. -- The NATO-led international force is now shifting to a reduced role of support as Afghanistan's newly trained army and police take over the fight against a resurgent Taliban. -- Casualties among both civilians and Afghan security forces are near all-time highs this year, with hundreds killed and wounded each month in the conflict. -- The withdrawal of the remaining U.S. and British troops from the combined base of Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion was carried out over 24 hours of near-continuous flights back and forth between Helmand and Kandahar Air Field, the aviation hub for southern Afghanistan. -- For the Marines' HMH 366 Hammerheads helicopter squadron, which flew on the final wave of the airlift Monday, there was a sense of pride in that the same unit also participated in the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq. -- "It's definitely a sense of history," said Staff Sergeant Ryan Hoover, of Vicksburg, Mississippi. -- http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/27/us-afghanistan-military-idUSKBN0IG11220141027