Taliban welcomes US troops pullout, Kabul residents disappointed at "irresponsible" evacuation

The Taliban welcomed the US withdrawal from Afghanistan early Tuesday after the last US troops left the Kabul airport, ending a 20-year invasion war in the Central Asian country.

"In this way, our country became completely free and independent," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter.

The final evacuation flight was conducted on the last hours of Monday night, airlifting the last US military and non-military personnel back home one day before the August 31 deadline set by US President Joe Biden.

"The US had withdrawn from Afghanistan after two decades, but the Americans left a mess in our country," said Khoja Wahid, a Kabul resident.

"The US is defeated and they are badly defeated," said the 42-year-old man.

"As I found in media report early Tuesday that Americans are going to open Afghanistan's embassy in Qatar. It is showing that the US lost everything in Afghanistan."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said just hours after the final evacuation flights left Kabul that the United States shifted its diplomatic operations to Qatar.

"As of today, we've suspended our diplomatic presence in Kabul and transferred our operations to Doha, Qatar," the top US diplomat said.

Another Kabul resident Ahmad Fawad said the US claimed they came to Afghanistan to ensure peace and security and uphold human rights, but "you can see their evacuation was not conducted in a responsible manner, as so many people died, including 13 US soldiers."

Fawad referred to the suicide bomb blast and gun firing on August 26, which killed at least 160 Afghans and 13 US troops, and injured nearly 200 others at a gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, when huge crowds were waiting to board evacuation flights.

ISIS-K, a local affiliate of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

"Although thousands of Afghan experts and educated people left the country, and the young generation is still determined to stay in Afghanistan if peace returned and their safety and security are ensured," he said.

"Now, it is on the United States, their allies, the UN and countries in the region to help Afghans in building our future."

Shortly after Mujahid's comments on social media roughly at 1:00 a.m. Tuesday local time, Taliban members started celebratory gun firing in the capital Kabul, which lasted for about an hour, causing panic among local residents.

Following the firing, Mujahid said in a separate tweet that "the gunshots heard in Kabul are as a result of celebratory firing, the Kabul residents should not worry, we are trying to control it."

The capital city Kabul is calm "like other normal days," but a US unmanned plane has been spotted flying over the city, witnesses in Kabul told Xinhua.

Like many, Salima, a female teacher in Kabul, expressed her hope for lasting peace in the country, welcoming the US pullout from Afghanistan.

"At least there is no more pretext for any armed group to continue war and fighting," she said.

"Americans did not accomplish what they promised to Afghans. Although I am also concerned by the ongoing uncertainty, hopefully the situation will get better eventually, borders will reopen, and the prices are not out of control. It will take a little time to have everything well," she added.

The US Central Command announced Monday that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan has completed, ending the longest war in the US history.

"I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals and vulnerable Afghans," Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, told a news conference in Washington.

"The last C-17 lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30, this afternoon, at 3:29 p.m. East coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the space above Afghanistan," McKenzie said.

The general said the number of US citizens currently still stranded in Afghanistan is "in the very low hundreds," stressing that the Department of State is in charge of assisting those evacuees.

The United States and its allies speeded up their troops withdrawal from Afghansitan after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15. The US allies, including Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Australia, have pulled out their troops from the war-torn country.

Claiming to be in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, the US-led military forces invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban within weeks of the terrorist attacks in 2001.

Over 2,400 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan over the past two decades, with 20,000 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Estimates showed that over 66,000 Afghan troops have been killed, and over 2.7 million people have had to leave their homes.