KABUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Taliban welcomed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan early Tuesday after the last U.S. troops left the Kabul airport, ending a 20-year invasion war in the 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 Aug. 30, airlifting the last U.S. military and non-military personnel back home one day before the Aug. 31 deadline set by U.S. President Joe Biden.
"The U.S. had withdrawn from Afghanistan after two decades, but the Americans left a mess in our country," said Khoja Wahid, a Kabul resident.
"The U.S. is defeated and they are badly defeated," said the 42-year-old man.
Another Kabul resident Ahmad Fawad said the U.S. 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 U.S. soldiers."
Fawad referred to the suicide bomb blast and gun firing on Aug. 26, which killed at least 160 Afghans and 13 U.S. 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 attack.
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.
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."
Like many, Salima, a female teacher in Kabul, expressed hope for lasting peace in the country, welcoming the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.
"At least there is no more pretext for any armed group to continue war and fighting," she said.
"Hopefully, the situation will get better, borders will reopen, and the prices are not out of control. It will take a little time to have everything well," she added.
The U.S. Central Command announced Monday that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has completed, ending the longest war in the U.S. 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 U.S. Central Command, told a news conference in Washington, which was held by the Department of Defense.
"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 U.S. citizens currently still stranded in Afghanistan is "in the very low hundreds," stressing that the Department of State is now in charge of assisting those evacuees.
Claiming to be in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S.-led military forces invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban within weeks of the terrorist attacks in 2001.
Over 2,400 U.S. 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. Enditem
