Kabul

The Haqqani and many other Taliban factions simply do not accept Haibatullah Akhundzada as their leader, as per Michael Rubin in 1945 website. Whereas the Taliban had said that they would unveil their new government on September 3, the day passed without any official word of the appointment of Akhundzada whom the group's representatives earlier signaled would be the Islamic Emirate's supreme leader based in Kandahar, Rubin said.

"Sarai Shahzada private exchange market reopened on Saturday after Da Afghanistan Bank, or central bank on September 2 announced that the market would start operation soon," a money exchange dealer, Najibullah, told Xinhua news agency. The foreign currency exchange rates are still in fluctuation as the rates are not stable and change frequently during the day, he said.

The TOLO News report said the Taliban special forces used tear gas to stop the protesters on Saturday afternoon who marched towards the Presidential Palace from the Pul-e-Mahmoud Khan area in the capital city. The Taliban said that they were forced to use tear gas as the protesters "went out of control".

One of the officials also revealed that the US special operation forces set up a "secret gate" at the airport and established "call centres" to guide Americans through the evacuation process. While one of the military officials said the arrangement with the Taliban "worked beautifully", Americans involved in an unofficial network dedicated to helping Americans and vulnerable Afghans said there were problems.

In what were extremely busy and horrific last few days for its forces in Kabul before its withdrawal from Afghanistan today, the US military relied on the Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System, or the C-RAM, to save itself from several rockets fired at them at the Kabul airport. According to the US Army, the C-RAM system, known to its Navy as the Phalanx, is "system of systems" which detects, warns and intercepts incoming rocket, artillery and mortar rounds at forward operating bases and significant targets in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was later clarified that the firings, which lasted about an hour, were part of the Taliban's celebrations for what its called the end of the occupation after the US announced that the withdrawal of troops was completed, Khaama News reported. Regarding the completion of the withdrawal, Mujahid added that "in this way, our country became completely free and independent".

Thirteen fallen US service members, mostly in their 20s and born just around the time of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, returned 24 hours ago in the last of the caskets from Afghanistan, draped in the US flag. US President Joe Biden became the fourth commander in chief to stand in reverence, his head bowed, as the heroes came home. Over the last 20 years, more than 2,400 US service members have been killed in Afghanistan alone.

Most of it has come overnight, much of it for the first time and most of it from the United States that will evacuate by this month-end. No banned organisation had this much ever in human history. It is another matter that the status of being banned may likely go, as the world wakes up to the ground realities in Afghanistan. The question now is: Who all in the whole world will pay the price for the multiple mistakes.

The White House confirmed the attack, but said that its ongoing evacuations would "continue uninterrupted". The incident comes a day after a US drone strike thwarted what officials said was another attack on the airport, the BBC report said. The US is planning to withdraw its troops and complete evacuations from Afghanistan by Tuesday.

The Pentagon released their names and biographies on August 28. The victims, mostly aged from 20 to 25 years old, were born within a few years of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, which led the US to launch two lengthy and painful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Xinhua news agency reported.