Taliban leaders on Tuesday symbolically walked across the runway of Kabul international airport to mark their victory in Afghanistan as the US forces completed the withdrawal process.
News agency AP reported that Taliban vehicles raced back and forth along the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s sole runway as the group celebrated the US retreat.
Also watch: Adieu Afghanistan: Last of troops fly out of Kabul, US says 20-year war is over
Heavily armed Taliban fighters also walked through the hangars shortly after the US soldiers left. A video tweeted by a journalist, the Taliban fighters were seen examining the Chinook helicopters left behind by the US military. However, the US military said that it disabled scores of aircraft and armoured vehicles and a high-tech rocket defence system, before leaving the Kabul airport.
Earlier, the Taliban leaders hailed the US withdrawal as a "historic moment" and declared "full independence" for Afghanistan.
“The world should have learned its lesson and this is the enjoyable moment of victory,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a Livestream posted by a militant.
Also watch: What happens to American military equipment left behind in Afghanistan?
Later speaking to Al-Jazeera Arabic on the airport’s tarmac, Mujahid rejected having a caretaker government and insisted that Kabul remained safe.
“There will be security in Kabul and people should not be concerned,” he said.