Taliban show off captured weapons at Kandahar victory parade
By Jonny Hallam and Mick Krever, CNN
Updated 1:43 PM ET, Wed September 1, 2021
(CNN) The Taliban on Wednesday showed off dozens of American-made armored vehicles along with newly seized weapons at victory celebrations in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Taliban forces celebrate the withdrawal of US forces in Kandahar.
Fighters waved white Taliban flags from Humvees and armored SUVs at the military parade, where many of the vehicles appeared in near perfect condition. The Taliban also organized an air display with a recently seized Black Hawk helicopter flying past the militants along the road while also trailing a white Taliban flag.
The parade came the day after video footage showed the militants making their way through an abandoned hanger in Kabul airport strewn with equipment the US left behind.
Taliban supporters gather to listen to the Taliban's governor for Kandahar province.
A Taliban fighter parades seized US weaponry through Kandahar.
In one video, militants dressed in US-style uniforms and holding US-made weapons examined a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter parked inside a hangar. Taliban fighters were also seen posing for photographs while sitting in the cockpits of planes and helicopters that once belonged to the Afghan Air Force.He added that the US military had made "unusable all the gear that is at the airport -- all the aircraft, all the ground vehicles," leaving only some fire trucks and fork lifts operational.
The Taliban have pledged to govern more moderately this time around, and said they would still allow foreign nationals and Afghans with proper documentation to leave the country after August 31. But many Afghans are skeptical of their claims, and huge question marks hang over the Taliban's ability to run the country.
Standing on the Kabul airport runway on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a small crowd that: "This victory belongs to us all."
He was joined by heavily armed fighters from the Taliban's Badri 313 special forces brigade, kitted out in camouflage uniforms and desert boots.
Mujahid congratulated the Taliban fighters who had lined up, and indeed "the whole of the nation."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/asia/taliban-kandahar-captured-weapons-intl/index.html
In one video, militants dressed in US-style uniforms and holding US-made weapons examined a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter parked inside a hangar. Taliban fighters were also seen posing for photographs while sitting in the cockpits of planes and helicopters that once belonged to the Afghan Air Force.He added that the US military had made "unusable all the gear that is at the airport -- all the aircraft, all the ground vehicles," leaving only some fire trucks and fork lifts operational.
The Taliban have pledged to govern more moderately this time around, and said they would still allow foreign nationals and Afghans with proper documentation to leave the country after August 31. But many Afghans are skeptical of their claims, and huge question marks hang over the Taliban's ability to run the country.
Standing on the Kabul airport runway on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a small crowd that: "This victory belongs to us all."
He was joined by heavily armed fighters from the Taliban's Badri 313 special forces brigade, kitted out in camouflage uniforms and desert boots.
Mujahid congratulated the Taliban fighters who had lined up, and indeed "the whole of the nation."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/asia/taliban-kandahar-captured-weapons-intl/index.html
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