militiamen celebrate, people hide

The Taliban celebrate this Tuesday his victory in Afghanistan after the departure of the last American soldiers, which puts an end to 20 years of a devastating war and opens a new chapter for this country, marked by great uncertainty.

The US withdrawal has been called a “historic” success by the Taliban, which seized control of Kabul on August 15 and toppled the Afghan government after a lightning-fast offensive across the country.

The Americans intervened in Afghanistan in 2001, at the head of an international coalition aimed at overthrowing the Taliban, which refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks in the United States.

“Congratulations to Afghanistan (…) This victory belongs to all of us,” declared Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamists from Kabul airport, controlled until a few hours earlier by American forces.

“It is a great lesson for other invaders and for our future generations” and “it is also a lesson for the world,” Mujahid said. “This is a historic day, a historic moment and We are very proud“he added.

Images of Taliban leaders marching victoriously through airport hangars, escorted by armed militiamen waving the flag

Live hidden

After nearly two decades of military intervention in the country, the Americans completed their exit from Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 31. The Pentagon confirmed the departure of the last American plane on Monday evening, the Taliban celebrated the seizure of the international airport with festive shots.

Many Afghans, who say they are threatened, still waiting to be evacuated.

“It was the deadline … but if the international community, especially the United States, does not support the Afghans who collaborated with international organizations, who worked for the previous government or defended women’s rights, s ‘they don’t evacuate them, it’s like handing them over to the Taliban. The Taliban will kill them, ”says an Afghan, member of a political party, who prefers anonymity.

She lives in hiding in Kabul with her family and regularly change address in the hope of being evacuated by the United States, a country for which she claims to have obtained a visa. For her, the Americans and the international community must finish saving many Afghans because the danger is there.

“There is no guarantee that the Taliban will do what they say. They haven’t changed. If they have changed, haven’t they?why do they hit women by their dress? Why are they destroying musical instruments? Why are girls and boys beaten for wearing jeans? Why don’t they let women work in government? In all ministries, there are only men! There are no women, ”he adds.

Since the Taliban came to power and took Kabul, “the situation is getting worse by the day,” he said. “The Taliban started searching homes at night to find those who worked with the previous government or with international organizations. They keep their loved ones to find them, ”said this former resident of Kandahar.

She moved to Kabul with her two nephews due to the security situation. “We no longer say where we live, sometimes I stay with relatives, then I change places. I live in hiding and I don’t go out“Says the former candidate of a political party to RFI.” There were election posters with my face all over the streets, so I hide and I cannot leave my house, ”he concludes.

Kandahar

In the city of Kandahar (south), the second largest in the country and a stronghold of the Pashtuns, an ethnic group to which most of the Taliban belong, there were also demonstrations of joy in the streets.

“We have defeated the superpower. Afghanistan it is the cemetery of the great powers“cry out armed men.

Since coming to power, the Islamists have tried to create a conciliatory and open image for themselves and have vowed not to take revenge on those who worked with the previous government.

“We want good relations with the United States and the world,” Zabihullah Mujahid said on Tuesday.

After two weeks of hasty and sometimes chaotic evacuations, the last C-17 military transport plane took off from the airport on Monday at 19:29 GMT (16:29 in Argentina), just before midnight in KabulGeneral Kenneth McKenzie, who heads the US Central Command, on which Afghanistan depends, said in Washington.

The American withdrawal took place 24 hours before the deadline set by President Joe Biden, for whom this day will have a bitter aftertaste.

The president, who justified his decision to withdraw the troops by saying that he did not want the war to last, planned to address his countries on Tuesday, in a difficult speech so many Americans are wondering what have served those two decades of presence in Afghanistan. for. .

Although the goal of ending Bin Laden was achieved on May 2, 2011, when US special forces killed al Qaeda leader the United States in Pakistan. continued in Afghanistan, in particular to train an Afghan army which quickly disappeared in front of the advance of the Taliban.

In total, the United States recorded 2,500 victims and had to pay a $ 2.3 trillion bill in 20 years, according to a Brown University study.

In addition, the country emerges from Afghanistan with an image clouded by its inability to predict the speed of the Taliban victory and by the way evacuations were organized.

Since August 14 and for 18 days, planes of the United States and its allies have evacuated some 123,000 people Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.

Among those who fled there are citizens of Western countries but also thousands of afghans whether they worked for foreign countries or organizations or because of their business or way of life they were clearly going to be targeted by the Taliban.

On Monday, the Pentagon acknowledged that they couldn’t evacuate everyone that they would have wanted. This supposed failure deserved criticism from the Republican opposition.

Biden “left Americans at the mercy of terrorists,” Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

The mass evacuation of Kabul airport was bloodied on August 26 with a suicide bombing claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), which left more than 100 dead, including 13 American soldiers.

A nemesis of the Taliban, ISIS-K could remain a threat and carry out new attacks in the country.

According to the Pentagon, on Sunday they thwarted an ISIS-K car bomb attack on the airport again by destroying the vehicle they had prepared loaded with explosives with a drone.

Civilians or terrorists?

This airstrike could constitute the epilogue of the long list of tragedies with civilian deaths which marked the two decades of American intervention and they made them lose local support.

Family members in Kabul told AFP a fatal mistake had been made and they killed ten civilians.

The United States will continue to “help” all its fellow citizens who wish to leave Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, and “will work” with the Taliban if they honor their commitments.

“The Taliban want legitimacy and international support. Our message is that legitimacy and support must be earned.

Between 100 and 200 Americans they would still be in Afghanistan, according to Blinken.

The Islamist movement inherits a devastated country despite the billions invested by the United States and in the face of extreme poverty, drought and the jihadist threat.

Taliban negotiate with Turkey to take care of airport logistics, but Islamists want guarantee security, which could deter the Turkish government from going ahead with this plan.

In addition, the new leaders will also have to face the reluctance of part of the population, who fear a new fundamentalist regime like the one imposed between 1996 and 2001, infamous for its treatment of women, the prohibition of fundamental freedoms and the brutality of its judicial system.

“We have the right to lead the next government. And we remain committed to the formation of a representative government,” insisted Mujahid. The Taliban have said they will announce the composition of a new government once the US military withdrawal is complete.

AFP and RFI