Taliban mark US withdrawal 1st anniversary with fireworks, military parade
Kabul, Aug 31 (EFE).- The Taliban Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan with a military parade at the sprawling Bagram airbase that served as the nerve center of the 20-year war against the Islamist militia.
The Taliban set off fireworks and its soldiers broke into a spontaneous jig on Wednesday to celebrate the Freedom Day, remembering how the last US military plane took off from the Kabul airport on Aug.30, 2021, just one minute before midnight.
Taliban soldiers, who had marched into the Afghan capital, pulled the triggers for an intense celebratory aerial firing to mark the end of the foreign occupation.
To mark the first “freedom day,” the Taliban men last night replaced the gunshots with loud fireworks that brought hundreds of fighters and onlookers to the Kabul streets.
Shaking a leg or two in celebration of the first anniversary of the end of the foreign military occupation, the Taliban men waved their white flags that bear the Islamic proclamation of faith inscribed in black.
“Fireworks with various and beautiful colors are going to be held to mark Freedom Day,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted.
The Taliban began the day with a military parade at the former US base in Bagram.
The Afghan Interior Ministry warmed up the propaganda engine with videos and photographs of the so-called special forces “capable of all kinds of complex and difficult operations…to ensure peace for the Afghan people.”
“These special forces are trained in piety, order, special skills, and modern tactics,” the ministry said.
“(They) prove that Afghans are now fully capable of protecting their country and people independently.”
The Islamist government began the celebrations on Aug.15 to mark the day when its fighters entered Kabul city a year ago to take control of the country after the fall of the US-backed government.
The Americans left Afghanistan shortly before midnight on Aug.31 to complete the withdrawal and evacuation operations of all its personnel and collaborators in the war-ravaged country.
The United States agreed to withdraw its forces in the historic Doha agreement signed in February 2020 after taking fair security guarantees from the Taliban.
The chaotic exit was completed in weeks.
Afghan forces were stripped of their essential support, leaving them vulnerable to the Taliban as a province after province fell to the Islamists at an alarming rate.
When they took power, the Americans were still evacuating Afghan citizens and workers, resulting in disparate groups of people attempting to flee, with crowds camped outside the airport for days.
The last US military plane flew out from Kabul airport just before midnight on Aug.30, carrying the last batch of passengers, including then-acting US Ambassador Ross Wilson. EFE
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