Taliban set national holiday to mark withdrawal of US from Afghanistan

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have set a new public holiday to mark the withdrawal of the last US soldier from the country.

The Taliban government’s website on Sunday declared August 31 national holiday.

Last year, festivities were organized by authorities and Taliban supporters to celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of foreign troops. A demonstration was particularly held at Kabul’s Massoud Square, outside the former embassy of the United States.

The last US soldier to leave Afghanistan was Army Major General Chris Donahue.

With the withdrawal, 20 years of bloody military occupation of Afghanistan came to an end.

The US war in Afghanistan has officially ended. But Afghans still suffer and die from post-war impacts.

When in 2001 the United States and its allies deployed troops to Afghanistan, they said the objective was to fight al-Qaeda as part of Washington’s so-called “war on terror.” The pretext had taken shape in the 9/11 attacks.

In August 2021, the Taliban recaptured several provincial capitals and seized Kabul with little-to-no resistance. The unexpected fall of the capital forced the US to carry out a hasty evacuation of diplomats, nationals, and Afghan helpers.

Washington received severe criticism for its poor handling of the evacuation.

According to a study conducted by the Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, the “war on terror” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen killed between 4.5 and 4.6 million people. The exact figure remains sketchy.

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