The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader in Afghanistan hailed the militant Islamist group’s “victory” and successful takeover of the war-torn country from a U.S.-backed government in a rare public speech over the weekend, roughly eight months after full withdrawal of the last American and allied troops left the country.
“Congratulations on this victory, freedom and success,” Hibatullah Akhundzada told thousands of worshipers gathered Sunday to mark the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
A Voice of America report on the speech said it took place at the central mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, which is known as the Taliban’s birthplace and de facto power center.
The Taliban appointed Mr. Akhundzada as the group’s supreme leader in 2016 after a U.S. drone strike had killed his predecessor, Mullah Mansour Akhtar. Agence-France Presse has reported that the new Taliban chief at one point secured a pledge of loyalty from al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who called him “the emir of the faithful.”
Mr. Akhundzada rarely appears in public. Sunday’s speech in Kandahar was his first before a large audience since the Taliban took control of cities across Afghanistan following the full withdrawal of American forces last August after a 20-year-long U.S. occupation of the country.
Voice of America (VOA) reported that Taliban security operatives confined journalists, including the crew of the official Afghan television, to a corner of the mosque where the Taliban head was speaking on Sunday and did not allow reporters to approach the supreme leader.
An eyewitness told VOA, a U.S. government-backed news organization, that the compound was heavily guarded, with machine-gun positions on the roof of the mosque around the dome and under construction towers next to the building.
A large number of Taliban soldiers were deployed in and outside of the house of worship and Russian-made MI-17 helicopters and a Cessna aircraft hovered over the mosque when Mr. Akhundzada was delivering his speech, VOA reported.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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