Political | Process

Taliban militants took control of Kabul’s airport after the last U.S. cargo plane took off before Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline.

• Senior figures in the Islamist movement posed in front of a C-130 transport plane at the Kabul airport, the hub of a chaotic U.S.-led evacuation operation in recent days. Fighters took selfies in the cockpits of Afghan military helicopters that had been disabled and abandoned.

• “We hope that Afghanistan will not be invaded again, that it will be rebuilt, remain independent, and that a holy Islamic system will rule,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, as uniformed fighters in modern combat gear knelt on the tarmac and chanted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”

• Speaking to members of the Taliban’s Badri 313 unit, Mr. Mujahid said: “I praise all your sacrifices, congratulate you all on the great victory, and on achieving independence and freedom for Afghanistan.”

SOURCE: WSJ