Taliban fighters walk down stairs as they take a day off to visit the amusement park in Kabul’s Loom Reservoir (Reuters)
Kabul: While strolling carelessly with machine guns in hand, Haleimi and hundreds of Taliban fighters enjoyed a rare day out with a visit to a popular waterside amusement park in Kabul.
Friday’s day trip to the sandy banks of the capital’s Loom Reservoir was a welcome holiday for fighters after months of fighting and weeks of security duty since the Taliban came to power in mid-August.
“I am very happy to be able to come to Kabul and be able to go to the loom for the first time … People welcomed me and my teammates in a warm welcome,” 24-year-old Halimi, a fighter from central Wardak province, told Reuters. , asking not to give his full name.
All the fighters, who were heavily armed in the park, sipped tea and bought snacks from stalls along the shoreline.
Some people queued up to try amusement park rides, which included a pirate ship and a flying chairs carousel.
Behind Halimi, 25-year-old Ziaul Haq, also from Maidan Wardak, was smiling as he went for a horseback ride.
Most of the fighters had not gone to Kabul until the Taliban took over the capital on August 15, and some were eager to visit amusement parks before returning to their duties across the country.
“We are proud to fight and now that they (Americans) are gone, it’s the happiest thing I’ve ever done,” Halimi said. Taliban withdrawal.
The Taliban waged a 20-year insurgency against the Western-backed government before returning to power after President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan in August. Most of its fighters know very little about insurgency.
Fighters are now tasked with ensuring nationwide security, which has become increasingly fragile after at least three attacks on religious institutions last week.
At least 46 people were killed and more than 140 injured in a suicide attack on a mosque in northwestern Afghanistan on Friday.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K), a name derived from the ancient name for the region that includes modern-day Afghanistan.
FacebookTwitterLinkedinE-mail
.