Taliban celebrate victory as last US plane leaves Kabul

Kabul: Taliban fighters watched the last U.S. planes disappear into the sky over Afghanistan around midnight Monday and then fired their guns into the air, celebrating victory after a 20-year insurgency that drove the world’s most powerful military out of one of the poorest countries.

The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan on Monday, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban’s return to power.

Washington and its NATO allies were forced into a hasty exit. Following a chaotic evacuation, they leave behind thousands of Afghans who helped Western countries and might have qualified for evacuation.

Celebratory gunfire rang out in Kabul after completion of the U.S. pullout that ended America’s longest war.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf said: “The last U.S. soldier has left Kabul airport and our country gained complete independence,” Al Jazeera TV reported on Monday.