Taliban Marks 2 Year Anniversary Of Return To Power In Afghanistan With ‘Victory’ Holiday

While still not formally recognized by any country, the Afghan Taliban on Tuesday is holding public celebrations marking the two-year anniversary of its return to power and ‘great victory’ over Western forces.

A public holiday is in effect, complete with military parades hailing return to an “Islamic system”, and also commemorating the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Kabul as American forces retreated and attempted a chaotic airport evacuation of foreign citizens. 

“On the second anniversary of the conquest of Kabul, we would like to congratulate the mujahid [holy warrior] nation of Afghanistan and ask them to thank Almighty Allah for this great victory,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a Tuesday statement.

“Now that overall security is ensured in the country, the entire territory of the country is managed under a single leadership, an Islamic system is in place and everything is explained from the angle of Sharia [Islamic law],” Mujahid added. 

In the Western city of Herat and elsewhere, chants from Taliban supporters could be heard of “Death to the Europeans, death to the Westerners, long live the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, death to the Americans,” according to Al Jazeera.

Security was reportedly tighter in the capital amid the festivities, also given there’s been repeat terror attacks by rival terror group ISIS-K. 

There are strong suspicions it carried out the latest deadly attack, as on Monday a hotel in the eastern province of Khost was bombed. The explosion killed at least three and wounded seven others, at a location said to be frequented by Pakistanis. 

Women’s rights in Afghanistan has plummeted once again to 1990’s era levels, when the Taliban ruthlessly enforced strict sharia law…

AFGHANISTAN: Today marks two years of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan with unprecedented track record of human rights abuses and violations.

As of today, over 198,612 people across the world have petitioned for the Taliban to end human rights abuses and… pic.twitter.com/AOcJ8Ox2eS

— Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office (@amnestysasia) August 15, 2023

Meanwhile in the United States heartbroken families of slain Marines – among the 13 personnel killed in the August 26 suicide attack at Kabul International Airport two years ago during the chaotic evacuation – are still looking for answers. The disaster at the airport gate also killed some 170 Afghan civilians who were trying to flee the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the capital.

One investigator and author has described of the August 2021 pullout: “Our findings — tucked away in the Pentagon’s own documents and in the own words of military officers personally involved in the Afghanistan evacuation — provide more damning evidence about the dangerous stupidity of relying upon terrorists like the Taliban to provide security at Kabul airport.”