Approximately 400 U.S. troops have departed Afghanistan, leaving a smaller force to hold the airport in Kabul and conduct sporadic rescue missions. The troops were a mix of soldiers flown in after the Taliban took over the country to help with evacuations of noncombatants and soldiers who were already there before the terrorist group pummeled the Afghan military and took the presidential palace in Kabul. Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, “in trying to manage time and space at the airport, determined that it was the prudent thing to do,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. Vasely decided that “he didn’t need them any more.” Kirby described the troops as “headquarters staff personnel, maintainers, and some other enabling forces.” Vasely is overseeing the mission in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are racing to evacuate Americans and Afghans before the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline that President Joe Biden imposed …