Taliban supporters held a mock funeral following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, carrying coffins draped with the American and NATO flags.
According to Reuters, the supporters also carried coffins with French and British flags celebrating the end of the withdrawal of American forces and their NATO allies.
The outlet noted some individuals in the crowd were carrying guns, others were waving Taliban flags or taking photos with their phones. Footage of the events circulated on social media, as Reuters reported.
This comes just days after 13 U.S. service members lost their lives during an attack near the airport in Kabul.
“I was just at Dover Air Force Base for the dignified transfer. We owe them and their families a debt of gratitude we can never repay but we should never, ever, ever forget,” President Joe Biden said while delivering remarks Tuesday.
Shocking scenes on the streets of Afghanistan where the Taliban has held mock funerals for NATO troops, celebrating the end of US occupation. #9Today pic.twitter.com/jM8WV2chwG
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) August 31, 2021
During an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday, host John Berman pointed out another viral image of Taliban fighters looking at U.S. military equipment inside of an evacuated airport hangar in Afghanistan, as IJR reported.
He asked Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, “How is that anything other than a U.S. defeat?”
Kirby replied, “They can inspect all they want. They can look at them, they can walk around, but they can’t fly them. They can’t operate them.”
He told Berman the Pentagon “made sure to demilitarize, to make unusable, all the gear that is at the airport.” The Pentagon spokesman also said they are “not overly concerned about these images of them walking around.”
The president has received criticism for the withdrawal but stood by his decision again, explaining, “The bottom line is, there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges, threats we faced. None.”
Acknowledging there are still Americans in Afghanistan, Biden said, “We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.”
