After U.S. exit, Taliban celebrate victory

Celebratory gunfire erupts over Kabul; under 200 U.S. citizens remain in the country, says Blinken

The hardline Islamist Taliban celebrated their total return to power on Tuesday with gunfire and diplomacy, after . The U.S.’ longest military conflict drew to a close on Monday night when its forces abandoned Kabul airport, where it had overseen a frenzied airlift that saw more than 123,000 people flee. Taliban fighters then swept into the airport and fired weapons into the sky across the city in jubilation — an astonishing return after U.S. forces invaded in 2001, weeks after the September 11 attacks, and toppled them for supporting al-Qaeda.