Afghanistan: the Taliban cry victory from the presidential palace in Kabul – teller report

These are images that end an offensive of just ten days across Afghanistan. Live on the Al Jazeera television channel, Taliban fighters proclaimed victory this Sunday, August 15, inside the presidential palace in Kabul, the capital, left a few hours earlier by President Ashraf Ghani.

“Our country has been liberated and the Mujahedin are victorious in Afghanistan”, welcomed an insurgent from the palace at Al Jazeera. An official reportedly told a Arab channel reporter having spent eight years in Guantanamo, the American prison intended for detainees presumed to be Al-Qaeda accomplices. Arms in hand or resting on wooden desks, the Taliban were filmed walking the corridors of the official building, proclaiming their victory in cries, or installed in large golden armchairs. Around a desk, fighters also recited the Koran, according to these same images (see below). At the end of the evening this Sunday, we could see the flag of the Taliban floating above the presidential palace.

At the same time, evacuations of foreign nationals and diplomats continued on board military planes from the secure Kabul airport. While commercial flights have been suspended until further notice, hundreds of people gathered this Sunday evening inside the airport, but also on the tarmac as evidenced by these images, hoping to be able to flee the country now in the hands of the Taliban.

On the run abroad, the Afghan president admitted this Sunday evening that the Islamist insurgents had “won with the judgment of their swords and guns and are now responsible for the honor, possession and self-preservation of their country”. While justifying having fled the country alongside his close collaborators to avoid a “bloodbath”.