Taliban celebrate victory as U.S. troops leave Afghanistan – KIRO 7 News Seattle

KABUL, Afghanistan – (AP) – Taliban fighters watched the last US planes disappear into the skies over Afghanistan at around midnight Monday, and then fired their guns into the air to celebrate victory after a 20-year insurrection, which is the most powerful The world’s military had driven out of the country one of the poorest countries.

The departure of U.S. cargo planes marked the end of a massive airlift in which tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan in fear of the return of Taliban rule after militants took over most of the country and rolled into the capital earlier this month.

“The last five planes are gone, it’s over!” Said Hemad Sherzad, a Taliban fighter stationed at Kabul International Airport. “I can’t put my luck into words. … Our 20-year-old victim worked. “

In Washington, General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, announced the conclusion of America’s longest war and evacuation efforts, saying the last planes took off from Kabul Airport at 3:29 p.m. EDT – one minute before midnight in Kabul.

“We didn’t get everyone out that we wanted out,” he said.

After the last troops were gone, the US ended its 20-year war with the Taliban again in power. Many Afghans remain afraid of their rule or further instability, and there have been sporadic reports of killings and other attacks in areas under Taliban control, despite the group’s pledges to restore peace and security.

“American soldiers have left Kabul airport and our nation has achieved full independence,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said early Tuesday.

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States orchestrated by al-Qaeda while hiding under Taliban rule. The invasion drove the Taliban from power within a few weeks and dispersed Osama bin Laden and other leading al-Qaeda leaders.

The US and its allies have made ambitious efforts to rebuild Afghanistan after decades of war, investing billions of dollars in a Western government and security forces. Women, largely confined to their homes under the hardline rule of the Taliban, benefited from access to education and played a prominent role in public life.

But the Taliban never left.

In the years to come, as the US focused on yet another troubled war in Iraq and the Afghan government sunk into corruption, the Taliban regrouped in the countryside and in neighboring Pakistan. In recent years they have conquered large parts of rural Afghanistan and carried out attacks on Afghan security forces on an almost daily basis.

To end the war, the Trump administration signed a peace agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 that paved the way for withdrawal. President Joe Biden extended the May deadline to August and continued to withdraw despite the Taliban’s swift lightning strike across the country earlier this month.

Now the Taliban control all of Afghanistan with the exception of the mountainous Panjshir province, where several thousand local fighters and remnants of the broken down Afghan security forces are resisting. The Taliban say they are looking for a peaceful solution there.

They now face much more serious challenges as they rule one of the poorest and most war-torn nations on earth.

For the past few days, Afghans have lined up outside the banks as an economic crisis worsens before the Taliban takeover. A series of attacks by the local branch of the extremist group “Islamic State”, including a hail of rockets into the airport on Monday, highlight the security challenges facing the Taliban.

On Thursday, at least 169 Afghans and 13 US soldiers died in an Islamic State suicide attack at an airport gate. The extremist group is far more radical than the Taliban, and the two groups have fought each other before. The Taliban say they will prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorist attacks again, a promise that is likely to be tested soon.

McKenzie said the Taliban were “significantly helpful” in making the airlift possible, but would have difficulty securing Kabul in the coming days, not least because of the IS threat. He said the Taliban had released IS fighters from prisons and increased their number to an estimated 2,000.

“Now they can reap what they have sown,” said the American general.

Many Afghans fear the Taliban themselves, who ruled the country from 1996 to 2001 under strict interpretation of Islamic law. At that time, they banned television and music, banned women from going to school or working outside the home, and carried out public executions.

The Taliban have been trying to maintain a more moderate image since the takeover. They say women can go to school and work and have refrained from revenge attacks on Afghans who have worked with the former government, the US or their allies.

Many Afghans are deeply skeptical of such promises and fear of Taliban rule has driven tens of thousands to flee in the past two weeks. Thousands of people waited in vain outside the airport, many of them standing in a sewer for hours.

Kabul International Airport had been one of the few ways out. At one point, people flocked to the tarmac and seven fell to their deaths after clinging to a plane taking off. Another seven died in a rush of people in front of an airport gate.

The Taliban have announced they will allow normal travel, but it is unclear how they operate the airport and which commercial airlines will start flying amid safety concerns.

Qatar, a close US ally with a longstanding Taliban political office, is negotiating airport operations with Afghan and international parties, mainly the US and Turkey. Qatar Deputy Foreign Minister Lolwa al-Khater said his top priority is to restore normal operations while maintaining security at the airport.

The last known US military operation in Afghanistan came on Sunday when American officials said a drone attack blew up a vehicle carrying IS suicide bombers who were planning to attack the airport.

But like so much about the Afghanistan war, it may not have gone as planned.

Relatives of victims of the strike on Sunday said the strike killed civilians unrelated to the extremist group.

Najibullah Ismailzada said his brother-in-law Zemarai Ahmadi had just got home from work at a Korean charity. As he drove into the garage, his children came out to greet him, and that’s when the missile struck.

“We lost 10 members of our family,” said Ismailzada, including six children aged 2 to 8 years. was also killed along with two teenagers.

US officials have taken note of the civilian casualty reports without confirming them.

Hours before the withdrawal is complete, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. military was taking steps to avoid civilian casualties in targeted attacks.

“Of course the loss of life from everywhere is terrible and affects families no matter where they live, in the United States or around the world,” she said.

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Akhgar reported from Istanbul and Krauss from Jerusalem. Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell and Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Rahim Faiez in Istanbul; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Samy Magdy in Cairo; and Robert Burns and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.

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