The Taliban hails US exit from Afghanistan after two decades of deployment. But, it says it wants ‘good relations’ with the rest of the world.
As the last US plane left Afghanistan, Taliban fighters took charge of Kabul airport.
Celebratory gunfire and fireworks lit up the sky.
The group described the departure as a ‘historic moment’. Its fighters started celebrating Afghanistan as a ‘free and sovereign’ nation following 20 years of ‘US occupation.’
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ‘wants to have good relations with the rest of the world’.
What will the future hold?
The Taliban, who are still forming their government and naming ministers, said Afghanistan was declaring its “independence,” according to their spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.
In the next hours, the Taliban entered the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to find abandoned military equipment left inoperable by the United States. Taliban leaders, flanked by the insurgents’ elite Badri unit, surveyed the airport.
Anas Haqqani, a Taliban leader and the second-in-command of the Haqqani Network, considered to be the most formidable of the Taliban’s fighting forces, said Tuesday the group had finally achieved what they had struggled for 20 years.
“What we achieved today is the result of the blood of thousands of mujahedeen, loyalty, patience and tolerating the difficulties.”
The Taliban has promised to allow foreigners and Afghans to leave Afghanistan beyond 31 August.
More than 120,000 people were safely flown out of Afghanistan, including around 6,000 Americans.
The group spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid declared the group is now busy with securing and operating the site.
He indicated that they were in talks with Qatar and Turkey about the facility’s future
