Kabul: Take a walk casually with their machine gun in hand, halimi and hundreds of a Taliban fighters enjoy a rare day with a visit to the popular Waterside Amusement Park in Kabul.
Friday trip to sandy beaches from the capital Qargha reservoir is a welcome break for warriors after months of conflict and week-week security assignments since the Taliban took power in mid-August.
“I feel very cheerful about coming to Kabul and can visit Qargha for the first time …
People welcome me and my friends with a brotherhood,” Halimi, 24, a warrior from the Wardak Province of Maidan, told Reuters.
, ask not to give his full name.
The fighters, all of which are very armed in the park, sip tea and buy snacks from stalls spread along the coastline.
Some queues to try out amusement park rides, which include pirate ships and air carousels flying chairs.
Behind Halimi, Ziaul Haq, 25, also from Wardak Maidan, beaming when he went to ride a horse.
Most fighters have never been to Kabul until the Taliban control the capital on August 15, and some really want to visit the amusement park before returning to their duties throughout the country.
“We are proud to have fought and now they are (America) leave, it is the nicest thing we experienced,” said Halimi, as he added that he had met a cousin in the park and a picnic to celebrate the return of Taliban.
The Taliban carried out a 20-year rebellion against the west-supported government before returning to power in August after President Ashraf Ghani escaped from Afghanistan.
Most of his fighters already knew a little outside the rebellion.
The fighters are now assigned to ensure national security, which has become increasingly fragile after three attacks on religious institutions in the past week.
Suicide bombers on Friday at a mosque in northwest Afghanistan killed at least 46 people and injured more than 140.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K), a name taken from ancient name for the area which included a modern Afghanistan .