Taliban hail Afghanistan's independence at airport

(31 Aug 2021) The Taliban were in full control of Kabul's international airport on Tuesday, after the last U.S. plane left its runway, marking the end of America's longest war. Vehicles carrying the Taliban drove along the Hamid Karzai International Airport's sole runway on the northern, military side of the airfield. “Afghanistan is finally... free,” Hekmatullah Wasiq, a top Taliban official, told The Associated Press on the tarmac. “Our forces are controlling the military and civilian parts of the airport. Normal activity of the airport will be started both in the civilian unit as well as the military unit very soon." Getting the airport running again is just one of the sizeable challenges the Taliban face in governing a nation of 38 million people that for two decades had survived on billions of dollars in foreign aid. #Afghanistan #Taliban #Airport #Kabul Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...