Taliban Take Kabul, U.S.-Backed Afghan Puppet Government Sent Packing

pride goeth before the fall https://t.co/FACXdsWtHH

— Fuzz Aldrin (@JihadKitty) August 15, 2021

A Taliban commander claimed he spent eight years in Guantanamo Bay in a triumphant speech from inside the Presidential Palace in Kabul as the militants declared an Islamic state of Afghanistan after the country's president joined thousands of Afghan nationals in a mass exodus.

Taliban fighters stormed the ancient palace on Sunday and demanded a 'peaceful transfer of power' as the capital city descended into chaos, with US helicopters evacuating diplomats from the embassy in scenes echoing the 1975 Fall of Saigon which followed the Vietnam War.

The Al-Jazeera news channel livestreamed the press conference from inside the palace, which showed a group of Taliban fighters sitting at the President's desk before a fighter claimed he was a former inmate of the US-controlled Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.

Armed Taliban fighters have entered Afghanistan’s presidential palace in Kabul hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/B5EwRybCpq pic.twitter.com/oPIGxxKT1V

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 15, 2021

Established by George W Bush in 2002, suspected terrorists have been detained without trial and tortured at the facility. Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the centre open indefinitely in 2018, while in February the Biden administration vowed to shut Guantanamo down.

A spokesman for the Taliban's political office told Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday that the war is over in Afghanistan and that the type of rule and the form of regime will be clear soon.

'We assure everyone that we will provide safety for citizens and diplomatic missions. We are ready to have a dialogue with all Afghan figures and will guarantee them the necessary protection,' spokesman Mohammad Naeem told the Qatar-based channel.

The spokesman for the Taliban's political office told Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday that the war is over in Afghanistan and that the type of rule and the form of regime will be clear soon.

'We assure everyone that we will provide safety for citizens and diplomatic missions. We are ready to have a dialogue with all Afghan figures and will guarantee them the necessary protection,' spokesman Mohammad Naeem told the Qatar-based channel.

"The Taliban is not the North Vietnamese army. There's gonna be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy of the United States from Afghanistan." —@JoeBiden, July 2021 https://t.co/AUxqmbr2lY

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) August 15, 2021

US helis throwing flares over Kabul. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/obkOeaxKel

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

Oh wow Taliban has captured alive war lord Qaisari in Mazar city of Balkh. #Afghanistan

pic.twitter.com/CAm15LjsQy

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

VIDEO: Notorious war lord Qaisari in Taliban custody in Mazar, Balkh. #Afghanistan

I don't know what his fate is going to be. He is accused of serious human rights abuses not just by Taliban but also by locals and international orgs. pic.twitter.com/u1vguNKuHu

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

Holy moly! Entire vehicle park including several Humvees captured by Taliban from security HQ in Wardak. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/iwAL6ZGRhG

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

Long abandoned convoy of ANDSF/Dostum's militia still at the bridge at Uzbekistan border zone. Looks like Uzbek authorities took in the soldiers/militiamen but didn't allow the vehicles inside. #Balkh

pic.twitter.com/gMGhVDnF99

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

Some more Humvees seized by TB in Mazar, Balkh. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/GkumloEvif

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

TB seniors Qari Fasihuddin and Mullah Amanuddin at Mazar airport. #Afghanistan #Balkh pic.twitter.com/2Y7Uhaapbf

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

Pro-TB sources claim the surrender of pro-govt forces in Kabul has started. They claim the Kabul police chief surrendered and policemen from PD-4 are surrendering. #Afghanistan

Video circulated by pro-TB accounts. pic.twitter.com/FzQPQxfyhd

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

TB posing with a captured plane at Mazar airport in Balkh. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/62dudFKjH5

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

An important point which @Natsecjeff mentioned this evening: Taliban will soon have access to the NDS HQ's files, if they don't already. That means lots of informants could be compromised, hunted down and executed (the Taliban are not nice to spies).

— Rupert Stone (@RupertStone83) August 15, 2021

Huge crowd of locals out to greet Taliban around the outskirts of Kabul. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/0hdwfwh8TQ

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

Kabul. pic.twitter.com/RyZcA7pktj

— Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) August 15, 2021

Oh man, it must suck to be forced to wear a face covering. https://t.co/3sia8TSZE1

— Bab, Pervert of the Hunt (@HeftyHaruspex) August 15, 2021

Owned pic.twitter.com/xHUHdShG92

— crypto lefty🌹 (@leftyinvests) August 15, 2021

lol...just stop pic.twitter.com/ZzaXRX8rYc

— dad bod the doomsayer (@nationaIist) August 15, 2021

Trust is so destroyed, beyond recovery, gone. pic.twitter.com/sKCym5tQyK

— Michael Yon (@Michael_Yon) August 14, 2021

Crazy scenes from Kabul Airport. #Afghanistan https://t.co/LyATv2y6VE pic.twitter.com/XgylaOviIE

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

US troops guarding the perimeter of the Kabul International Airport tonight.

If I heard correctly, someone is shouting "move back" to the desperate civilians who approached them.https://t.co/qF4CH4hAhP pic.twitter.com/af9WJ1hF8s

— Status-6 (@Archer83Able) August 15, 2021

the lesson of the taliban in afghanistan is that your enemy can be stronger than you, wealthier than you, more technologically advanced than you, backed by every modern institution on Earth, and yet you can still outlast your enemy by simply not quitting.

— stonetoss comics (@stone_toss) August 15, 2021