“Kabul did not fall into Taliban hands, Kabul was liberated by the Taliban”, Zazai Rashedm, a fervent 24-year-old Islamist, corrects the foreign journalist in the midst of the crowd that has gathered at the doors of the US Embassy. A year later After the Americans lowered their flag and evacuated personnel to the airport, hundreds of fighters and supporters of the Islamist movement celebrate their victory at the gates of the legation. It is a moment of euphoria because “it is a sacred day in which all mujahideen (holy warriors) must remember the important victory achieved against the enemy after two decades of fighting,” says one of the combatants, a pistol on his belt and Ak47 on the shoulder. The old Ahmad Sha Masoud roundabout, a national hero who fell into disrepair after the change of regime, is now a sea of white flags of the Emirate facing the legation of the great enemy.
Some come on foot with banners in hand, most of them aboard trucks or armored military vehicles that the United States bought for the now-defunct Afghan Army. The cry rises above walls that are now decorated with the shahada (declaration of Islamic faith) and various anti-American slogans. August 15 becomes a holiday in the Afghan national calendar, but the most purist prefer to wait for September 1 since “that is the date on which the last infidel left our land,” says a follower of the group, who is unarmed and arrives from Wardak province.
The Taliban euphoria that is experienced at that point spreads through the streets of the city through the vehicles that fly with religious prayers at full volume. It is a mirage. As soon as the Taliban move away, silence returns. Kabul is empty and it doesn’t seem like the citizens have much to celebrate on this day. There is fear of possible attacks by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group and, above all, there is no fervor for the Islamists. Here what no one can forget are the moments of absolute desperation that were experienced this same day and the following ones at the international airport. Tens of thousands of people risked their lives to escape from those who now govern the country. Loud screams and prayers cannot withhold memories and are not enough to cover up the unprecedented humanitarian crisis and economic collapse.
Taliban militants now wear uniforms inherited from the former security forces they used to fight. Nasratullah, the fictitious name that he asks us to use to introduce him, was part of the special forces and fought the Taliban throughout the country for five years. He now lives in absolute anonymity and helplessly attends the celebrations of the people he was trained to arrest and kill.
“The Taliban are trying to show the world that this year they have managed to return security to the country and that before everything was a disaster and many more people died. What happens is that they were the ones who attacked civilians, security forces, bridges and highways and now they are the ones in charge, ”explains the ex-military from a safe place on the outskirts of the capital. He recalls the night operations in the southern provinces, the great bastions of the insurgency, and the code they applied in combat, “as revenge for one wounded of ours we killed five Taliban and for a dead friend we killed fifteen.”
He rages when he remembers how the enemy was able to take over the 34 provinces of the country one after another with little resistance and enter Kabul in a kind of triumphal walk. “They betrayed us from above. From the top of the government, to the governors and chiefs of police, all were in cahoots with the Taliban and each looked after their interests, not those of Afghanistan. From one day to the next we were left without air support, without ammunition supply, they left us alone, ”laments this former member of the special forces. Like the rest of the members of the armed forces, he does not trust the Taliban and has never approached them to try to rejoin the army.
“Prisoner Exchange”
On his phone he keeps two photos of his uniformed past, no more. One of them corresponds to the operation in which they managed to capture Anas Haqqani, brother of the current Minister of the Interior. “It was a complete success, we found one of the great commanders, but then the Americans released him in a prisoner exchange,” he says, still hurt by this decision. When talking about the United States, the war in Ukraine comes to mind and he warns that “they will do the same with the Ukrainians as with us, they will use them as long as it serves their interests and then they will leave them in the hands of the enemy, like us” .
While the Taliban continue their celebrations in the streets of Kabul, in many houses like Naratullah’s they just want the international community to never recognize this government because “the brutality will not stop growing”.
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