Photos: Taliban seizes control of Kabul airport after US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Taliban Badri special force fighters secure the airport in Kabul. The Taliban were in full control of Kabul’s international airport on Tuesday, after the last US plane left its runway, marking the end of America’s longest war.

A Taliban member takes photos with a mobile phone at the airport in Kabul.

Members of the Taliban Badri 313 military unit walks at the tarmac as they secure the airport premises in Kabul. Vehicles carrying the Taliban raced back and forth along the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s sole runway on the northern, military side of the airfield.

Before dawn broke, heavily armed Taliban fighters walked through hangars, passing some of the seven CH-46 helicopters the State Department used in its evacuations before rendering them unflyable.

Taliban leaders later symbolically walked across the runway, marking their victory while flanked by fighters of the insurgents’ elite Badri unit.

“The world should have learned its lesson and this is the enjoyable moment of victory,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a livestream posted by a militant. Above, Taliban Badri special force fighters climb up on a vehcile at the airport in Kabul.

Taliban fighters sit in the cockpit of an Afghan Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul.

“There will be security in Kabul and people should not be concerned,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. In another interview with Afghan state television, Mujahid also discussed restarting operations at the airport, which remains a key way out for those wanting to leave the country.

“Our technical team will be checking the technical and logistical needs of the airport,’’ he said. “If we are able to fix everything on our own, then we won’t need any help. Above, Taliban members walk past a damaged aircraft at the airport.

Taliban fighters stand guard near an Afghan Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul.

Taliban fighters stand inside an Afghan Air Force aircraft.

Members of the Taliban Badri 313 military unit stands guard next to a Afghan Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul.

Taliban fighters draped their white flags over barriers at the airport as others guarded the civilian side of the airfield. Inside the terminal, several dozen suitcases and pieces of luggage were left strewn across the floor, apparently left behind in the chaos. Clothes and shoes also were scattered. A poster of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the famed anti-Taliban fighter, had been destroyed.

Belongings of Afghans who left the country are seen at the tarmac of the airport in Kabul. The airport had seen chaotic and deadly scenes since the Taliban blitzed across Afghanistan and took Kabul on August 15.

Thousands of Afghans besieged the airport, some falling to their death after desperately hanging onto the side of an American C-17 military cargo jet. Last week, a Daesh suicide attack at an airport gate killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 US service members.