The Taliban has marched into Kabul’s international airport, hours after the final US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that ended America’s longest war.
Standing on the tarmac, Taliban leaders pledged to secure the country, quickly reopen the airport and grant amnesty to former opponents.
In a show of control, turbaned Taliban leaders were flanked by the insurgents’ elite Badri unit as they walked across the tarmac. The commandos in camouflage uniforms proudly posed for photos.
Getting the airport running again is just one of the sizeable challenges the Taliban faces in governing a nation of 38 million people that for two decades had survived on billions of dollars in foreign aid.
“Afghanistan is finally free,” Hekmatullah Wasiq, a top Taliban official, told The Associated Press on the tarmac.
“The military and civilian side (of the airport) are with us and in control. Hopefully, we will be announcing our cabinet. Everything is peaceful. Everything is safe.”
Mr Wasiq also urged people to return to work and reiterated the Taliban’s general amnesty pledge.
“People have to be patient,” he said. “Slowly we will get everything back to normal. It will take time.”
Just hours earlier, the US military had wrapped up its largest airlift of non-combatants in history.
On Tuesday morning, signs of the chaos of recent days were still visible. In the terminal, rifled luggage and clothes were strewn across the ground, alongside wads of documents.
Overturned cars and parked vehicles have blocked routes around the civilian airport – a sign of measures taken to protect against possible suicide car bombers entering the facility.
Vehicles carrying the Taliban raced back and forth along the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s sole runway on the military side of the airfield.
Before dawn broke, heavily armed Taliban fighters walked through hangars, passing some of the seven CH-46 helicopters the US state department used in its evacuations, before rendering them unusable.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid addressed the gathered members of the Badri unit. “I hope you be very cautious in dealing with the nation,” he said.
Today, nearly 100 countries issued a joint statement on the assurances by the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to safely travel outside Afghanistan. We will hold the Taliban to that commitment. https://t.co/nZtyWPHsJu
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 29, 2021
“Our nation has suffered war and invasion and the people do not have more tolerance.”
In an interview with Afghan state television, Mr Mujahid also discussed restarting operations at the airport, which remains a key way out for those wanting to leave the country.
“Our technical team will be checking the technical and logistical needs of the airport,” he said. “If we are able to fix everything on our own, then we won’t need any help. If there is need for technical or logistics help to repair the destruction, then we might ask help from Qatar or Turkey.”
Marine Gen Frank McKenzie, the head of the US military’s Central Command, earlier said troops disabled 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft so they cannot be used again.
He said troops did not blow up equipment needed for eventually restarting airport operations.
The airport had seen chaotic and deadly scenes since the Taliban surged across Afghanistan and took Kabul on August 15.
Thousands of Afghans besieged the airport, some falling to their death after desperately hanging onto the side of an American C-17 military cargo jet.
Over 40 per cent of the population in Afghanistan relies on humanitarian aid.
We are committed to stay and continue assisting those in need: https://t.co/ZdfGK7Hr5Y pic.twitter.com/BAopUk7nHS— IOM - UN Migration 🇺🇳 (@UNmigration) August 30, 2021
Last week, an Islamic State suicide attack at an airport gate killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 US service members.
During the evacuation, US forces helped evacuate more than 120,000 US citizens, foreigners and Afghans, according to the White House. Coalition forces also evacuated their citizens and Afghans.
But for all who got out, foreign nations and the US acknowledged they did not evacuate everyone who wanted to go.
“After 20 years we have defeated the Americans,” said Mohammad Islam, a Taliban guard at the airport from Logar province, cradling a Kalashnikov rifle. “They have left and now our country is free.”
“It’s clear what we want. We want Shariah (Islamic law), peace and stability,” he added.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative who oversaw America’s talks with the Taliban, wrote on Twitter that “Afghans face a moment of decision & opportunity” after the withdrawal.
“Their country’s future is in their hands. They will choose their path in full sovereignty,” he wrote.
“This is the chance to bring their war to an end as well.”
But the Taliban faces what could be a series of major crises as it fully takes over the government.
The majority of the billions of dollars Afghanistan holds in foreign reserves is now frozen in America, pressuring its now-depreciating Afghani currency.
Banks have implemented withdrawal controls, fearing runs on their deposits in the uncertainty. Civil servants across the country say they have not received their salary in months.
Medical equipment remains in short supply, while thousands who fled the Taliban’s advance remain living in squalid conditions. A major drought also has cut into the country’s food supplies, making its imports even more important and raising the risk of people going hungry.
Also in question are the rights of women, who faced oppression under the Taliban’s earlier rule.
Schools have reopened, and on Tuesday morning dozens of elementary school students headed to schools in an area near the airport.
The Taliban has ordered schools to be segregated, but this is often not enforced for younger children.
