The Taliban has celebrated the anniversary of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan by holding a military show at Bagram airbase, which served as the main American operational hub throughout the 20-year war.
Taliban forces seized the capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, after the US-backed government collapsed. The leadership now marks the date as the official “Afghan Jihad” Victory Day, while August 31 is celebrated as the day when the last American soldier left Afghanistan.
The military parade in Bagram on Wednesday featured Soviet-era tanks, artillery pieces, and aircraft – as well as dozens of US-made armored vehicles abandoned by the Americans. More parades featuring American weaponry were held in Kabul, Kandahar province, and elsewhere across the country.
Videos of the events, broadcast internationally, also showed columns of uniformed Afghan security forces marching with rifles and heavy machine guns. A swarm of motorbikes showcased homemade bombs used in roadside ambushes against US-led forces during the war.
Thousands of people attended, including senior Taliban officials and foreign diplomats, according to reports. The military show was followed by speeches commemorating what Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund called a “decisive victory over an international arrogant and occupying force.”
The US and its allies sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups as part of Washington’s global ‘War on Terror,’ proclaimed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Western forces quickly took Kabul, but the Taliban remained active in large swaths of the country, and the war with insurgents dragged on for many years while becoming increasingly unpopular in the US.
The Taliban eventually recaptured several provincial capitals and marched on Kabul with little to no resistance in August 2021. The unexpected fall of the city forced the Pentagon to carry out a hasty evacuation of diplomats and American nationals.
The last American soldier, US Army Major General Chris Donahue, boarded a military transport plane shortly before the deadline for the withdrawal expired on August 31, 2021, ending a grueling 20-year military campaign that cost billions of dollars and killed tens of thousands. Washington has been roundly criticized for its handling of the evacuation, in which 13 American service members were killed, and for leaving thousands of allied Afghans behind.