A Taliban fighter offered a simple warning to CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward on Sunday when asked about the group’s message for the United States.
“America already spent enough time in Afghanistan,” he said. “They need to leave, they already lost lots of time and lots of money.”
The fighter told Ward “everything is under control” and said Afghan citizens should not “worry” about the militant group’s occupation of the war-torn nation.
The Taliban overtook Kabul on Sunday after a stunningly quick rise following President Biden’s decision to remove U.S. troops from the country and end the nation’s longest war.
It served as a humiliating end to the U.S. presence in the country and has opened Biden up to furious criticism.
It has also raised real concerns about the future for Afghanistan’s women.
Taliban forces are currently guarding the presidential complex in Kabul, Ward reported, and a growing sense of uncertainty and dread are filling the streets.
“They just told me to stand to the side because I’m a woman,” Ward said. She pointed her head downward during her report and wore a head covering.
Afghan citizens told Ward they fear for their safety and are uncertain of their homeland’s future under the Taliban’s rule.
“I can’t predict even seconds right now or even minutes right now,” one man told Ward. “So that’s why I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”