A bizarre video appears to show armed Taliban soldiers enjoying themselves on bumper car rides in Kabul as the military group effectively seized control of the Afghan capital. The clip was posted by Reuters journalist Hamid Shalizi and it appears soldiers are showing off their guns while riding around on the park rides.
🇦🇫 #Afghanistan : les #talibans ont pris le contrôle d’un parc d’attractions à #Kaboul. (témoins) pic.twitter.com/BukACDf5v2
— Mediavenir (@Mediavenir) August 16, 2021
Various clips of the military group celebrating in and around the amusement park have been posted on social media. French news outlet, Mediavenir, posted a video of the Taliban troops riding on a merry-go-round. Another video purports to show soldiers working out in the presidential palace’s gym.
🇦🇫 #Afghanistan : d’autres images de la prise de contrôle du parc par les #talibans. (témoins) #Kabul #Kaboul pic.twitter.com/oqzb07KOLb
— Mediavenir (@Mediavenir) August 16, 2021
Since the Taliban take-over, a heartbreaking image of students at an Afghani school has gone viral on social media. Shabnam Nasimi, Conservative Friends of Afghanistan director, posted an image to Twitter explaining how teachers were saying goodbye to female pupils now the Taliban has effectively retaken control of the country.
Trying to be “fit for governing”
Taliban in Afghanistan working out in the presidential palace’s gym. pic.twitter.com/s441sb6e35— Asaad Hanna (@AsaadHannaa) August 16, 2021
She wrote: “A photo of a school in Afghanistan closed due to security issues. The students showed up bright and early anyway. “Teachers said goodbye to their female students who won’t be allowed to go to school anymore. A numbing helpless feeling.”
Afghanistan has enjoyed more than a decade of women having the ability to go to school after the Taliban was ousted by an international military effort.
When the militant organization was last in power, women were banned from education and were practically ‘erased from civic life’. Women weren’t allowed to leave their homes unless they had a male companion. There are fears this will return now that the Taliban has retaken control of the country.
