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Taliban Officials Celebrate, Mock United States as They Seize Full Control of Kabul Airport

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Twenty years after America began its war to free Afghanistan from the Taliban, Taliban fighters went joyriding on the Kabul airport tarmac and fired off their guns to celebrate the end of America’s retreat from Kabul.

Roughly two weeks after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the United States evacuated its final military personnel, turning the airport over to the Taliban, which first sent special forces troops to inspect the airport before beginning its hours of triumph on Tuesday.

“The world should have learned its lesson and this is the enjoyable moment of victory,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, according to Fox News.

Americans “could not achieve their goal through military operations,” he said, according to Al Jazeera.

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The backdrop to the celebration was a reminder of the vast military might the United States sent into Afghanistan — helicopters, gunships and planes left behind during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal ordered by President Joe Biden.

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“It is a historical day and a historical moment,” Mujahid said during a news conference at the airport after the departure, according to Reuters. “We are proud of these moments, that we liberated our country from a great power.”

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said during a Pentagon briefing that “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,” he said.


Mujahid said he told Taliban commandoes to be “very cautious” in dealing with civilians.

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“Our nation has suffered war and invasion, and the people do not have more tolerance,” he said.

Saad Mohseni, who owns the broadcasting company Tolo, said there is a lot of skepticism among Afghans, according to The New York Times.

“Peoples’ expectations have grown dramatically after the past 20 years of freedom and liberation, and the pain is yet to come,” he said. “Will the Taliban engage the world with a more inclusive approach? Or will they return to the ways of the past?”

Amid reports of revenge taking place in Afghanistan, with the Taliban torturing and killing people who assisted the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration is taking a bygones-will-be-bygones approach and focusing on the future.

He said the U.S. would work with the Taliban as long as there were no reprisals against former enemies.

“The Taliban seeks international legitimacy and support,” Blinken said. “Our position is any legitimacy and support will have to be earned.”

Mujahid claimed that good relations are the Taliban’s goal.

“The Islamic Emirate wants to have good diplomatic relations with the whole world,” he said.

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
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Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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