Taliban fighters celebrated victory on Tuesday as they took control of Kabul airport, following the withdrawal of last U.S. troops.
This marks the end of a 20-year war that left the Islamist militia stronger than it was in 2001.
A shaky video footage emerged online in the early hours of Tuesday, where celebratory gunfire resounded across Kabul and Taliban fighters could be seen entering the airport after the last U.S. troops flew out a minute before midnight.
Speaking at a news conference at the airport after the departure, Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said “it is a historical day and a historical moment.
“We are proud of these moments, that we liberated our country from a great power.’’
“Thousands of Afghans have already fled, fearing Taliban reprisals. More than 123,000 people were evacuated from Kabul in a massive but chaotic airlift by the U.S. and its allies, over the past two weeks.”
The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, disclosed that about 200 contingents of Americans, wanted to leave but were unable to get on the last flights.
The British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, put the number of UK nationals in Afghanistan in the low hundreds, following the evacuation of some 5,000.
General Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon briefing that the chief U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, was on the last C-17 flight out.
McKenzie said, “There’s a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. But I think if we’d stayed another 10 days, we wouldn’t have gotten everybody out.”
However, U.S President, Joe Biden, in a statement, defended his decision to stick to Tuesday’s withdrawal deadline.
He said, “Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended.”
