Taliban celebrate ‘full independence’ with gunfire as US troops withdraw after 20-year long war
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said early Tuesday that “American soldiers left the Kabul airport, and our nation got its full independence,” the Associated Press reported.
FollowProclaiming “full independence” for Afghanistan after the last US soldiers flew out following 20 years of war, the Taliban celebrated with gunfire that echoed across Kabul.
Shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed fighters entering the airport after the last US troops took off a minute before midnight, marking the end of a hasty and humiliating exit for Washington and its NATO allies.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said early Tuesday that “American soldiers left the Kabul airport, and our nation got its full independence,” the Associated Press reported.
The United States has ended a 20-year occupation of Afghanistan and departed from the country, as Major General Chris Donahue, the Commanding Officer of the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, was officially the last American soldier to leave the crisis-hit country on a C-17 aircraft out of Kabul.
The departure of the cargo planes marked the end of a massive airlift in which tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan, fearful of the return of Taliban rule after they took over most of the country and rolled into the capital earlier this month.
Also read: The last American soldier has left Afghanistan; US mission is officially over
“The last five aircraft have left, it's over!” said Hemad Sherzad, a Taliban fighter stationed at Kabul's international airport. “I cannot express my happiness in words. ... Our 20 years of sacrifice worked.”
In Washington, General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, announced the completion of America's longest war and the evacuation effort, saying the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3,29 p.m. EDT — one minute before midnight Monday in Kabul, Reuters reported.
America's longest war claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 U troops and an estimated 240,000 Afghans, and cost some $2 trillion.
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