Taliban has once again taken the reins in Afghanistan, and it is only a matter of time before this takeover is officially announced. Pictures, footage, and Taliban statements all testify that nothing has changed in the movement’s ideology or methods. Their modus operandi is evidently the same: violence, extremism, and utter disregard for human lives. After its two-decade leadership of the international coalition established in the wake of 9/11, Washington is retreating today in a controversial, rushed move, almost as if the withdrawal is but a frightened flight from a supposedly decisive battle that gradually waned and faded until there was no other option than withdrawal, which is as good as a defeat. Footage of Taliban’s capture of the advanced weapons and modern military vehicles -- some of which brand new and unused -- left behind in the US rushed withdrawal is everywhere, in a stark reminder of ISIS’s capture of all kinds of advanced US weapons and equipment after Mosul’s fall, and the subsequent chaos that ISIS wreaked in Iraq and Syria and the revival of its cells across the world.
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