TALIBAN DECLARES DAY LAST US SOLDIER LEFT AFGHANISTAN NATIONAL HOLIDAY

Army Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, steps on board a C-17 transport plane as the last U.S. service member to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photograph taken using night vision optics.Jack Holt / US Central Command via Reuters.

Sun 18 June 2023:

Afghanistan has declared a new public holiday to commemorate the departure of the last US soldier from the country. The departure of Western soldiers will be commemorated each year on August 31st, according to the Taliban government’s website.

The decision taken by the Council of Ministers was announced in a statement by the administration office of the Taliban interim government, Anadolu Agency reported.

Festivities were first organized last year, when the authorities and Taliban supporters marked the first anniversary of the withdrawal with Taliban fighters holding a rally on Massoud Square in Kabul, outside the former US embassy.

The last American soldier, US Army Major General Chris Donahue, boarded a military transport plane shortly before the deadline for the withdrawal expired on August 31, 2021, ending a grueling 20-year military campaign that cost multiple billions and killed thousands of people.

The US and its allies sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups as part of Washington’s global ‘War on Terror’ that was proclaimed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Western forces quickly took Kabul, but the Taliban remained active in large swaths of the country, and the war with insurgents dragged on for many years, while the campaign became more unpopular in the US.

In August 2021, the Taliban recaptured numerous provincial capitals and stormed Kabul with little to no resistance. The unexpected loss of the city compelled the Pentagon to evacuate diplomats, American nationals, and Afghan aid workers quickly.

Washington has been heavily criticized for how it handled the evacuation, as well as for leaving thousands of friendly Afghans behind.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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