The Taliban
took over Afghanistan on Sunday after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and it was decided that Taliban’s Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar would
lead the interim Afghanistan government. The Taliban took over nearly all of
Afghanistan’s provinces by force, with the exception of Kabul, which they took
following negotiations after the civilian government was forced into a corner.

Also Read | Longest war: Were America’s decades in Afghanistan worth it?

However,
amid this violence and gloom in the war-torn country, the Taliban “insurgents”
found the time to film themselves lounging on gold furniture in the palatial
home of Afghan “warlord” and US ally General Rashid Dostum.

In the
video that went viral on social media, the Taliban fighters could be seen
eating and chatting away while inspecting the general’s golden tea set. They
walked around Dostum’s luxurious oval-shaped room filled with chandeliers and
golden furniture and posed in chairs.

The video
is said to be from after the fall of Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan’s fourth
largest city.

General
Rashid Dostum, who is reportedly stationed in Kabul, was a key ally of the
United States during the 20 years long war against Afghanistan. Dostum famously
fought with the special forces ‘horse soldiers’ shortly after 9/11.

Also Read | Afghanistan: How Taliban defeated the US-backed Afghan army

Before 9/11
however, Dostum was an infamous warlord known for crushing prisoners alive beneath
the wheels of a tank. In recent years, he was a senior member in the Afghan
National Army.

As of
Sunday, the Taliban have seized complete control over Afghanistan. The
two-decade-long war and the billions of US dollars spent on the war don’t seem
to have yielded any results. It is likely that the war-torn country will see a
return to its dark days with people losing most of their rights. Taliban’s laws
are expected to particularly target women in terms of the freedoms enjoyed by
them.

Also Read | Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani resigns, Taliban to lead interim government

In Kabul,
people are rushing towards the airport, the only way out of Afghanistan at the
moment, in a bid to flee their country. Others are stationed outside private
banks to withdraw their life savings as ATMs have stopped dispensing cash. Many
people have quit their homes and are spending nights by the roadside and in parks.