The Taliban show the weapons captured in the Kandahar victory parade

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In videos posted on social media, the Taliban paraded the hardware left by Afghan and U.S. forces after the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops that left Afghanistan in the hands of the militant group.

Fighters waved white Taliban flags of Humvees and armored SUVs at the military parade, where many of the vehicles appeared in near-perfect condition. The Taliban also staged an air show with a recently confiscated Black Hawk helicopter flying over militants along the road, while also tracking a white Taliban flag.

The parade took place the day after video footage showed militants making their way through an abandoned hanger at Kabul airport full of material the United States had left behind.

In a video, militants dressed in American-style uniforms and U.S.-made weapons examined a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter parked inside a hangar. Taliban fighters were also seen posing for photographs while sitting in the cabins of planes and helicopters that once belonged to the Afghan Air Force.

But Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told CNN on Tuesday that he was not “too concerned about these images” of Taliban fighters examining the abandoned plane.

“They can inspect anything they want,” Kirby said. “They can look at them, walk, but they can’t fly them. They can’t handle them.”

He added that the US military had rendered “unusable all the equipment at the airport: all planes, all land vehicles,” leaving only a few fire trucks and forklifts operational.

Taliban fighters sit in the cockpit of an Afghan Air Force plane at Kabul airport on August 31.

Efforts to reopen Kabul airport resumed on Wednesday when a team of Qatari technical experts arrived in the Afghan capital, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.

The source said the technical team traveled to Kabul by plane from Qatar at the request of the Taliban and that, although no final agreement had yet been reached, “talks continue in terms of security and operation.”

The return of the Taliban has submerged the Middle East in unexplored waters

“The aim is to resume flights to and from Kabul for safe humanitarian aid and freedom of movement.”

Afghanistan is heavily dependent on foreign aid, and the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have already struggled to get food and critical medical supplies at the airport amid the mass evacuation operation.

Even before the political upheaval of recent weeks, Afghanistan was the world’s third largest humanitarian concern, with more than 18 million people in need, according to UNICEF. But if there are no commercial planes currently allowed to land in Kabul, getting help will be difficult.
A Taliban fighter takes a picture of a damaged Afghan Air Force helicopter near an airport hangar.

Restarting commercial flights will also be crucial for people who still want to leave the country but do not reach military evacuation aircraft.

More than 123,000 people have been evacuated by U.S. and coalition planes since Aug. 14, U.S. Central Command General Frank McKenzie said Monday.

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