The Taliban terrorist organization marked two years as the uncontested government of Afghanistan on Tuesday, the anniversary of its takeover of Kabul following leftist American President Joe Biden’s decision to extend America’s 20-year war in the country.
Taliban terrorists celebrated with events around the country, including assemblies of terrorists carrying their weapons, speeches by top jihadist scholars, and a poetry recital. The Taliban’s top spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, agreed to a profile with the Qatari outlet Al Jazeera detailing his usual workday and how the Taliban has maintained Afghan’s presidential palace. The group’s leaders used the opportunity to continue urging Afghans who opposed the Taliban to come home and help enrich the group through their labor.
Biden announced in April 2021 that he would break an agreement with the Taliban and then-Afghan government, brokered under former President Donald Trump, that would have seen American forces leave the country on May 1 of that year. Biden claimed he would instead withdraw forces by September 11 – the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America that prompted the invasion of Afghanistan – but wound up extracting troops a month early as the Taliban swept through large swaths of the country.
Taliban jihadists, who had agreed to cut ties to other jihadist groups and not attack American forces under the Trump deal, launched 22,000 attacks in four months following Biden’s decision. On August 15, the terrorists arrived in Kabul, prompting then-President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country and give up the presidential palace.
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2021, after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. (Zabi Karimi, File/AP)
The Taliban has since remained firmly in control of the country, with no significant attempts to oust them. Ghani occasionally gives interviews where he claims to still be president of Afghanistan, but he has not attempted to exercise any presidential power and does not appear to have any influence in Afghanistan at press time. He has yet to return to the country.
Passengers walk to the departures terminal of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, past a mural of President Ashraf Ghani, as the Taliban offensive encircled the capital. On the eve of the anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan’s former president on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022, defended what he said was a split-second decision to flee, saying he wanted to avoid the humiliation of surrender to the insurgents. (Rahmat Gul, File/AP)
The Taliban’s rule has marked a return to the brutal Islamist rule of the 1990s when the Taliban previously governed Afghanistan. While the Taliban figureheads speaking to the media in August 2021 promised a more “inclusive” version of the reign of terror they had previously imposed on the country, they have yet to fulfill that promise to the international community, silencing nearly all attempts at political dissent and effectively erasing women from Afghan society. Afghanistan’s previously robust national press has also been mostly either silenced or turned into propaganda vehicles for the terrorists.
August 15 is a formal holiday in Afghanistan under the Taliban, a day to celebrate the defeat of America and the imposition of the group’s fundamentalist version of sharia, or Islamic law, on the starving Afghan population.
The Taliban’s top spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, celebrated the second anniversary of the group’s takeover on Tuesday with a statement proclaiming “no one can control the proud nation of Afghanistan.”
Statement of the Islamic Emirate on the Second Anniversary of the Conquest of Kabulhttps://t.co/3JlwuOVCBw pic.twitter.com/6n1kNXTUQ1
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) August 15, 2023
“We would like to congratulate the Mujahid [jihadist] nation of Afghanistan and ask them to thank Almighty Allah for this great victory,” the statement read. “The 20-year jihad and victory against the occupation is the fact that the people of Afghanistan and the entire Islamic Ummah [community] are proud of; In fact, it further strengthens their faith on [sic] Allah.”
“The Islamic Emirate, as a true and responsible system for its Mujahid people, was able to end the Jihad successfully and pave the way for the establishment of the Islamic system in Afghanistan,” the terrorists claimed. “The conquest of Kabul proved once again that no one can control the proud nation of Afghanistan and guarantee their stay in this country.”
“This day also showed that all the efforts of the invaders in this country have faced with failure, they cannot defeat the will of the Afghan Mujahid people, nor can they impose their arbitrary regime by force and conspiracies,” the Taliban concluded. “The officials of the Islamic Emirate are committed to serving their people within the framework of the Islamic Sharia … no invader will be allowed to threaten the independence and freedom of Afghanistan.”
Taliban officials active on Twitter circulated photos of commemorative events on Monday night and Tuesday, including recitals of poetry to celebrate the two decades of war and the ouster of the United States.
متقي صاحب او همه شموله شعر یې
په ارګ کې د ازادۍ دویمې کلیزې په ویاړ جوړه شوې مشاعره#اسد۲۴ pic.twitter.com/FegAaItsOm— امان افغان (@amanafghan111) August 14, 2023
The Taliban’s “Defense Ministry” gathered its top jihadists for an assembly in which “Defense Minister” Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid urged “patience,” “love,” and “passion,” according to the Taliban’s official Bakhtar News Agency.
so let’s work with love and passion for a better Afghanistan.
Minister Mujahid said we need to stay patience to overcome the current problems in the country.
— BNA English (@bnaenglish) August 15, 2023
Most of the footage of the events around the country posted showed jihadists filling banquet and event halls to listen to Islamic sermons and political speeches. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported public gatherings of jihadists chanting “Death to the Europeans, death to the Westerners, long live the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, death to the Americans” on the streets of Herat, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities, while Kabul featured armed terrorists partying in front of the former American embassy.
Unlike the first anniversary, which featured belligerent party takeovers at key sites like America’s former Bagram Air Force Base, the Taliban did not appear to hold a parade this year.
The 2nd Anniversary of the Conquest of Kabul by the Islamic Emirate of Commemorated Countrywide pic.twitter.com/mIhd4uFSnm
— BNA English (@bnaenglish) August 15, 2023
The AFP reported that Taliban leaders had planned a military parade in Kandahar, home of “Supreme Leader” Hibatullah Akhundzada, but canceled it. Akhundzada reportedly canceled the parade “so as not to disturb the public.”
Zabihullah Mujahid, the top spokesman, also marked the occasion by granting Al Jazeera – which is funded by Qatar, where the Taliban maintained its “political office” during the Afghan War – rare access to his daily activities. In a brief documentary feature published on Monday, Mujahid appears touring Taliban attempted infrastructure projects, explaining the meaning of the Taliban flag “this is the symbol of jihad against corruption and America,” and even appears to meet with an alleged women’s rights activist. Mujahid can be seen sporting traditional Afghan garb and holding a late-model iPhone, presumably used to update his prolific Twitter account.
Mujahid claims that the total deprivation of human rights for women is necessary because “it takes time to provide a safe way for women to go to work and study” and tells the women’s rights activist that disappearing women behind burqas and out of school and work is necessary to prevent radical Islamist preachers from turning against the Taliban regime.
The Biden withdrawal left the Taliban in a strong position, with no significant opposition and at least $7.2 billion in American military equipment, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). SIGAR, an American government agency established to oversee spending in the Afghan War, warned in a report this month America remains the “largest donor to the Afghan people, having appropriated more than $2.35 billion since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.” The Taliban is capitalizing on this, SIGAR warned, by diverting these funds and publicly taking credit for international humanitarian aid.