Taliban have proclaimed “full independence” for Afghanistan and celebratory gunfire rang out in Kabul as the US confirmed its last troops withdrew ahead of a Tuesday deadline following 20 years of war. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Tuesday that “American soldiers left the Kabul airport, and our nation got its full independence.”
Anas Haqqani, a senior Taliban official, said he was “proud” to witness “these historic moments”. “We made history again I am very happy that after 20 years of jihad, sacrifices & hardships I have this pride to see these historic moments,” Haqqani tweeted.
According to AFP, small arms and machine gun fire continued 45 minutes after the initial announcement, and tracer rounds lit up the sky in Kabul, Afghanistan. In a separate tweet, Haqqani urged Taliban fighters to avoid celebratory gunfire in order to protect innocent bystanders.
“All the American troops have left Afghanistan, we are very happy — you can hear the celebratory fire,” another Taliban spokesman, Bilal Karimi, told AFP over the phone.
Taliban fighters fired their guns into the air as the last US planes drew their wheels up around midnight on Monday, celebrating victory after a two-decade insurgency in Afghanistan. “The last five planes have taken off; it’s over!” Hemad Sherzad, a Taliban fighter stationed at Kabul’s international airport, told the Associated Press, “I cannot express my happiness in words…. Our 20 years of sacrifice worked.”
The commander of US Central Command, General Frank McKenzie, announced the end of America’s longest war and the evacuation effort. McKenzie said the last planes left Kabul airport one minute before midnight on Monday, and that Ross Wilson, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, was on the last C-17 flight out.
“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,” McKenzie told reporters.
Tens of thousands of people attempted to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban rolled into the capital earlier this month, surprising everyone with their swift capture of the country. They were fearful of the hardline Islamist group’s return as well as reprisals.
Except for Panjshir province, where a few thousand local fighters and remnants of the country’s collapsed security forces have pledged to resist the Taliban, the Taliban now control all of Afghanistan. The Taliban have stated that they are looking for a peaceful solution.
