Taliban celebrate as US troops leave to mark end of 20-year war
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CELEBRATORY gunfire resounded across the Afghan capital yesterday as the Taliban took control of the airport following the withdrawal of the last US troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the Islamist group stronger than it was in 2001.
Shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed fighters entering the airport after the last US troops flew out on a C-17 aircraft a minute before midnight, ending a hasty and humiliating exit for Washington and its NATO allies.
“It is a historical day and a historical moment,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference at the airport after the departure. “We are proud of these moments, that we liberated our country from a great power.”
America’s longest war took the lives of nearly 2,500 US troops and an estimated 240,000 Afghans, and cost some US$2 trillion.
Although it succeeded in driving the Taliban from power and stopped Afghanistan being used by al-Qaida as a base to attack the United States, it ended with the hard-line militants controlling more territory than when they last ruled.
During those years, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban brutally enforced their strict interpretation of Islamic law, and the world watches now to see if the movement will form a more moderate and inclusive government in the months ahead as they have promised.
Thousands of Afghans have already fled the country, fearing Taliban reprisals.
More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Kabul in a massive but chaotic airlift by the United States and its allies over the past two weeks, but many of those who helped Western nations during the war were left behind.
A contingent of Americans, estimated by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at fewer than 200, and possibly closer to 100, wanted to leave but were unable to get on the last flights. Blinken said the United States was prepared to work with the new Taliban government if it did not carry out reprisals against opponents.
Taliban spokesman Mujahid said the group wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the United States, despite the two decades of hostility.
“The Islamic Emirate wants to have good diplomatic relations with the whole world,” he said.
Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday that a new page has been turned in Afghan history following the withdrawal of US troops. “We hope that Afghanistan will form an open, inclusive and broadly representative government ... and resolutely crack down on all kinds of terrorist forces,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
China will continue to maintain close communication with all parties in Afghanistan and the international community, and provide support and assistance within its capacity to restore peace and economy, and combat all terrorist organizations, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Wang stressed.
The Taliban must now revive a war-shattered economy without the benefit of billions of dollars of foreign aid, even though much of this had flowed into the pockets of the ruling elite and fed systemic corruption.
Long lines formed in Kabul yesterday outside banks shuttered since the fall of the city as people tried to get money to pay for increasingly expensive food.
The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe, with food stocks running low because of disruptions caused by conflict as well as a severe drought.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday requiring the Taliban to honor their commitment to let people leave Afghanistan freely, but the measure did not cite a “safe zone” mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron.
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