(JustPatriots.com)- After a traumatic year in which women’s rights were suppressed and a humanitarian crisis worsened, Taliban fighters celebrated the first anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan by chanting victory shouts in front of the US embassy in Kabul on Monday.
Just as US-led troops ended 20 years of participation in a war that claimed tens of thousands of lives, the hardline Islamists took control of Kabul precisely one year ago.
They did so after launching a statewide lightning onslaught against government forces.
Niamatullah Hekmat, a warrior who invaded the city on August 15, 2013, just hours after the country’s then-president Ashraf Ghani fled, claimed that they completed the obligation of jihad and “liberated our country.”
It is a day of celebration and victory for the Muslims and people of Afghanistan. According to government spokesman Bilal Karimi on Twitter, the “white flag has been conquered today.”
Tens of thousands of people flocked to Kabul’s airport throughout the chaotic evacuation of foreign forces until August 31 to board any flight out of Afghanistan.
News bulletins worldwide carried images of crowds swarming the airport, boarding aircraft, and even clinging to a departing US military cargo plane as it rolled down the runway.
Although no formal celebrations have been announced by the authorities to honor the occasion, state television has stated that it will run special programs.
Many Taliban fighters gathered in Massoud Square in Kabul, close to the now-closed US embassy, where they flew the government’s white flag.
They shouted, “Long live the Islamic Emirate… Long live independence,” some brandishing weapons while others snapped photos with their cell phones.
Afghanistan’s economic crisis has rendered many Afghans defenseless, even though they accept a decrease in violence since the Taliban took control.
Many government occupations are no longer open to women, and tens of thousands of girls have been excluded from secondary education.
“Life has lost meaning since the day they came,” says Kabul resident Ogai Amail.
