Taliban celebrate first anniversary of US withdrawal from Afghanistan
- Celebratory fireworks light up sky in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul as Taliban mark ‘Freedom Day’
- The US completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan before midnight on August 30, 2021
The Taliban declared Wednesday a national holiday and lit up the capital with coloured lights to celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan after a brutal 20-year war.
The country’s new rulers – not formally recognised by any other nation – have reimposed their harsh version of Islamic law on the impoverished country, with women squeezed out of public life.
But despite the restrictions, and a deepening humanitarian crisis, many Afghans say they are glad the foreign force that prompted the Taliban insurgency has gone.
“We are happy that Allah got rid of the infidels from our country, and the Islamic Emirate has been established,” said Zalmai, a resident of Kabul.
The withdrawal of troops at midnight as August 31 began last year ended America’s longest war – a military intervention that began in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York.
Some 66,000 Afghan troops and 48,000 civilians were killed in the conflict, but it was the deaths of US service members – 2,461 in total – that became too much for the American public to bear.