Victorious Taliban says defeat of U.S. is a lesson to the world

The Taliban has hailed the American withdrawal from Afghanistan as a "lesson for other invaders" after the last U.S. military aircraft left the country, effectively ending two decades of war.

The Taliban celebrated at Kabul's airport on Tuesday with congratulatory messages and celebratory gunshots fired in the air, AFP reported. Newsweek previously broke the news that a U.S. Air Force C17 strategic transport aircraft left Afghanistan on Monday at 11:59 p.m. local time, close to President Joe Biden's August 31 deadline to end U.S. military presence in the country.

"Congratulations to Afghanistan," Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters from the runway. "This victory belongs to us all."

While the Taliban's takeover was a "lesson for other invaders," Mujahid said, he also expressed a desire to improve ties with the U.S. and international community.

"We want to have good relations with the U.S. and the world," he said, according to AFP. "We welcome good diplomatic relations with them all."

The Taliban has insisted it has evolved towards a more moderate platform, but reports of fighters hunting for Afghans who worked with U.S. forces and working women being asked to stay home have raised fears over a potential resurgence of the group's brutal rule in the 1990s.