#UPDATE A Qatari aircraft landed in #Kabul Wednesday carrying a technical team to discuss the resumption of airport operations after the Taliban takeover of #Afghanistan, according to a source with knowledge of the matter #KabulAirport pic.twitter.com/rKYGau1NZS
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 1, 2021
Videos show Taliban flags flew from the enormous convoy of transports and armored fighting vehicles outside Kandahar. The jihadist organization also reportedly flew a captured U.S. Black Hawk helicopter over Kandahar, dragging a Taliban flag behind it.
Taliban parade shows off plundered US hardware https://t.co/DiL1BhxOSY pic.twitter.com/a4uXcEBbQz
— CNA (@ChannelNewsAsia) September 1, 2021
Taliban show off their newly acquired American Humvees in a parade held in Kandahar, the 'spiritual birthplace' of the #Taliban. #Talibans #Panjshir #Afghanistan #Afghan #AfghanTaliban #Kabul #Kabulairport #Kandahar #Afghanishtan #USA #USArmy pic.twitter.com/f9bfVQ4gGo
— Hamza Azhar Salam (@HamzaAzhrSalam) September 1, 2021
CNN, appearing to verify the authenticity of the footage circulating on social media, observed that “many of the vehicles appeared in near-perfect condition,” to the dismay of Biden apologists frantically claiming the equipment he left behind was disabled, poorly maintained, or too complex for the Taliban to use.
Elsewhere in Kandahar, at a cricket ground, “white-bearded Taliban leaders waited in the shade in the players' dugout, reclining on armchairs behind wooden coffee tables as they waited for the parade to start. Others sat crossed-legged on the grass, while hundreds more gathered in the terrace stand to watch,” the UK Guardian reported.
“Pick-up trucks laden with supporters rolled past the convoy of military vehicles, some armed with heavy weapons and machine guns,” the Guardian observed.
According to the Guardian, the only disappointment of the event was that Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, believed to be living in Kandahar, did not make a rumored appearance.
House Democrats on Tuesday blocked a resolution that would have required President Biden to deliver a full accounting of all the military equipment he left behind in Afghanistan.
