Taliban set off fireworks to celebrate first anniversary of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan

A man holds a gun as Taliban supporters celebrate the first anniversary of the departure of U.S. forces from Afghanistan on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 30, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

Celebratory fireworks lit up the Kabul sky on Tuesday night on the first anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which the Taliban are marking as 'Freedom Day'.

The withdrawal, completed a minute before midnight local time on Aug. 30, came as the war-torn country was taken over by the Taliban, who had waged a 20-year insurgency against U.S.-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York.