Taliban declare 'Islamic Emirate' on Afghan Independence Day as resistance figure vows revenge
The Taliban declared Afghanistan an "Islamic Emirate" as the war-torn country marked its Independence Day.
Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid on Thursday announced on Twitter the establishment of an "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" on the country's 102nd independence anniversary from British rule and four days after the militants captured Kabul.
The hardline militant Islamist group celebrated Afghanistan's Independence Day by declaring it had beaten "the arrogant of power of the world" in the United States.
The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan between 1996 to 2001, has so far offered no plans for the government they plan to lead, other than saying it will be guided by Shariah, or Islamic, law.
But memories of the Taliban's brutal regime in the 1990s - which saw music and television banned, people stoned to death and women confined to their homes - have caused panic about what lies ahead for Afghans, despite the militant group trying to restore calm and claim it has reformed.
Tens of thousands of people have tried to flee Afghanistan since Taliban militants swept into the capital on Sunday, completing a stunning rout of government forces after a two-decade insurgency.
Defiant protesters waved Afghan flags at scattered across the country, as the son of the nation's most famous resistance fighter vowed to take up arms against the newly returned Taliban regime.
Ahmad Massoud, the son of Afghanistan's most famed anti-Taliban fighter, on Thursday said he was "ready to follow in his father's footsteps", as he rallied his forces in the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul -- the country's last holdout.
Massoud is the son of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the famed anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance leader assassinated in 2001, two days before the 11 September attacks on the US.
Agencies contributed to this report.