Military show marks Taliban’s third year of Afghanistan takeover

Taliban celebrates three years in power with military parade, showcasing homemade bombs, fighter aircraft, and strict Islamic rule.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers celebrated three years in power on Wednesday with a military parade paying homage to their homemade bombs used in war, fighter aircraft and goose-stepping security forces.

The Taliban's armed forces towed Soviet-era tanks and artillery pieces through the former U.S. air base in Bagram, where Chinese and Iranian diplomats were among hundreds who gathered for the parade and speeches.

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The former Bagram base once served as the linchpin for U.S.-led operations against the Taliban for two decades.

A swarm of motorbikes strapped with yellow jerry cans, often used to carry homemade bombs during the fight against international forces, also rumbled past assembled officials.

There were U.S.-made armoured personnel carriers, the black-and-white flag of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the Taliban government's formal name for the country — fluttering above them.

Helicopters and fighter aircraft flew over the base, where Taliban fighters were once imprisoned, about 40 km north of Kabul.