Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl93n77btvb0bbg/VRP58933.mp4?dl=0
Taliban special forces entered a Kabul airport after the U.S. wrapped up evacuation efforts in Afghanistan just before August 31.
The Taliban’s ‘Badri 313’ unit was filmed conducting a sweep of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which also served as a military base, on Tuesday, August 31. Donned in camouflage uniforms, the soldiers combed the airport for any remaining stragglers, and inspected equipment left behind by the U.S. military.
Marine General Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said dozens of pieces of military equipment, vehicles, and aircraft have already been ‘demilitarized’ before U.S. forces left, rendering them useless to Taliban soldiers.
He said: ‘It’s a complex procedure, complex and time-intensive procedure to break down those systems so we de-militarized those systems so that they’ll never be used again, and we just felt it more important to protect our forces than to bring those systems back.’
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said America’s withdrawal signals the start of Afghanistan’s ‘complete independence’.
He said: ‘At 12 o’clock tonight, the last American troops left Kabul airport, on which account Afghanistan was completely liberated and independent.’