To celebrate the first anniversary of the final American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban organized special ceremonial events at the former US base at Bagram, which included a military parade and triumph chants.
The ceremony took place on August 31 at Bagram Air Base, which was previously controlled by American forces for almost 20 years and is located north of Kabul.
Senior Taliban government figures, such as Mullah Hassan Akhund, the Prime Minister, and a few other cabinet members, participated in the ceremony, although the key figures in the Sirajuddin Haqqani-led Haqqani network were missing.
According to reports from Bagram Air Base, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Anas Haqqani were not present in the program.
Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund stated during the event that the army had fought for this day for 20 years. He did, however, recognize that sanctions had caused the economy to remain stagnant.
In his speech, Mullah Hassan Akhund discussed the end of the foreign occupation of Afghanistan and urged other countries to engage with the Taliban through negotiation and reconciliation.
He continued, saying that while westerners claim that hunger is a problem in Afghanistan, he believes that foreigners are to blame for both the hunger and the freezing of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves.
Mazar-e-Sharif, the provincial capital for Balkh also celebrated this day, although journalists were precluded from closely covering the event there.
This comes as the Taliban declared Wednesday, 31st of August, a public holiday marking the day the last US troop departed from Afghanistan.
