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Hours after the last foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan, Taliban leaders victoriously passed through Kabul airport, flanked by special forces riot-clad guards inspecting destroyed US military equipment.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid led a group of officials onto the trail, a broad smile on his usually stoic face.
“Congratulations to Afghanistan … this victory belongs to all of us,” Mujahid told reporters. “America was defeated, they could not achieve their objectives with military operations,” he said.
The Taliban’s “Badri 313” special forces unit posed for photos, wielding US rifles and flying the group’s white flag.
Once one of Afghanistan’s most secure sites, the airport’s passenger terminal has been left in chaos with empty bullet casings littering the ground near all entrances.
The airport has been at the center of a chaotic evacuation since the Taliban took control of the country on August 15. The United States and its allies airlifted more than 100,000 people, foreigners and Afghans, who feared reprisals from the new leadership.
Ensuring airport security is a key issue, and the Taliban have repeatedly stated that they will not accept any foreign military presence in Afghanistan. They are in talks with Turkey to resume civilian operation of the airport. No agreement has yet been reached.
The departing US military has disabled several planes and armored vehicles – along with a high-tech rocket defense system – at the airport, a US general said.
Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said 73 planes were “demilitarized” or rendered useless by US troops before concluding the two-week evacuation of the Taliban-controlled country.
He said the Pentagon, which assembled a force of nearly 6,000 troops to occupy and operate Kabul airport during the airlift, left behind some 70 MRAP tactical armored vehicles – which can cost as much as $ 1. million dollars each – which he deactivated before he left.
The United States also left behind the C-RAM system – counter-rocket, artillery and mortar – which was used to protect the airport from rocket attacks.
The system helped repel a barrage of five Islamic State rockets in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), an ISIS affiliate, in Afghanistan on Monday.
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