After the last U.S. troops withdrew, Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn on Tuesday (August 31), celebrating the echoing of gunfire in Kabul and ending the 20-year war that made the Islamic militia stronger than in 2001.
The shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed that fighter jets entered the airport after the last batch of U.S. troops took off one minute before midnight, marking the end of Washington and its NATO allies’ hastily and humiliating withdrawal.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, Taliban spokesman Kari Youssef said: “The last American soldier has left the Kabul airport and our country has gained complete independence.”
The US Army shared the night vision optical image of the last US soldier who boarded the last evacuation flight from Kabul-Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.
The longest war in the United States claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. troops and an estimated 240,000 Afghans at a cost of approximately US$2 trillion.
Although it successfully ousted the Taliban and prevented Al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base to attack the United States, in the end hardline Islamic radicals controlled more countries than they did during their reign from 1996 to 2001.
Those years were marked by the Taliban’s brutal enforcement of the strict interpretation of Sharia law, and the world is now watching whether it will form a more moderate and tolerant government in the coming months.
The large-scale but chaotic airlift carried out by the United States and its allies in the past two weeks successfully evacuated more than 122,000 people from Kabul, but still left tens of thousands of Afghans who helped Western countries and feared retribution by the Taliban.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, there is a group of Americans who want to leave but cannot board the last flight. The number is less than 200 and may be close to 100.
General Frank McKenzie, the commander of the US Central Command, said at a Pentagon briefing that Ross Wilson, the US chief diplomat in Afghanistan, was on the C-17 for the last takeoff.
“This resignation is heartbreaking. We didn’t let everyone we want to go out. But I think if we stay for another 10 days, we won’t let everyone out,” MacKenzie told reporters.
‘National Shame’
In a statement, President Joe Biden defended his insistence on withdrawing U.S. troops before the deadline on Tuesday. He said that the world will allow the Taliban to keep their promises and allow safe passage for those who want to leave Afghanistan.
“Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan is over,” Biden said, thanking the U.S. military for its dangerous evacuation. He plans to address the American people on Tuesday afternoon.
Biden once stated that the United States had achieved its goal of overthrowing the Taliban in 2001 long ago because the Taliban harbored al-Qaeda militants who planned to attack the United States on September 11, 2001.
Since the Taliban took over Kabul earlier this month after the lightning advance and the collapse of the US-backed government, the president has been severely criticized by Republicans and some of his fellow Democrats for his handling of Afghanistan.
Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the U.S. withdrawal a “national shame,” which was “a direct result of President Biden’s cowardice and incompetence.”
But Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wrote on Twitter: “Salute to our diplomats, military, and intelligence agencies. In this dangerous and turbulent situation, airlifting 120,000 people is impossible for others to do. Arrived.”
Blinken said that if the new Taliban government does not retaliate against the country’s opponents, the United States is prepared to cooperate with the new government.
“The Taliban seek international legitimacy and support. Our position is that any legitimacy must be supported,” he said.
The Taliban must revitalize the war-torn economy, and cannot expect billions of dollars in foreign aid to flow into the former ruling elite and encourage systemic corruption.
The population outside the city is facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation worsened by a severe drought as described by UN officials.
