By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
At last, the United States of America (USA) has ended her 20 years military occupation of Afghanistan as the last troops of American servicemen and women departed the Hamid Karzai International Airport or Kabul International Airport before the midnight of August 30 (August 31 in Afghanistan).
PromptNews reports that the Taliban, after seizing power from the former President Asharaf Ghani early this month had warned the U.S of the folly of remaining on the Afghanistan soil beyond the August 31 U.S Army final withdrawal from Afghanistan ordered by President Joe Biden.
But rather than to over stay in the hostile country,
General Kenneth Franklin McKenzie Jr., Commander of the United States Central Command on Monday announced to the world that the last American servicemen and women have departed Afghanistan.
Gen. McKenzie Jr. who is a U.S. Marine Corps General who currently serves as the 14th Commander of the United States Central Command also stated that the final withdrawal of the U.S. does not
mean that some Americans still in Afghanistan will not come home.
Recall that the immediate past U.S President, Donald J. Trump had made a deal with the Taliban fighters that the U.S. military will withdraw from Afghanistan in the second quarter of 2021.
The Taliban which refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), is a Deobandi Islamist religious-political movement and military organization in Afghanistan.
It is currently one of two entities claiming to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan, alongside the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s ideology has been described as combining an “innovative” form of Sharia Islamic law based on Deobandi fundamentalism and militant Islamism, combined with Pashtun social and cultural norms known as Pashtunwali, as most Taliban are Pashtun tribesmen.
Taliban founders were
Mohammed Omar and Abdul Ghani Baradar, with leaders Mohammed Omar holding away from 1994–2013; Akhtar Mansour †,2015–2016 and then Hibatullah Akhundzada has led Taliban from 2016 to present.
The timeline of Taliban involvement in Afghanistan:
Dates of operation:
- 1994–1996 (militia)
- 1996–2001 (1st government)
- 2002–2021 (insurgency)
- 2021–present (2nd government)
*Allegiance:
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
