If it helps their morale to claim victory over NATO, then have at it. Shoot your crappy guns in the air, repeat your AllahuAkbars and celebrate like fools.
But the Taliban was never the real target of NATO operations in Afghanistan, and neither was the invented al-Qaeda, so for the Taliban to claim victory is pathetic. Waiting out a foreign army on your own soil is nothing to brag about. That's what you're supposed to do, as Chris Rock would say.
If the Taliban defeats the corrupt and deceitful army of Pakistan on Pakistani soil, only then will they have the right to brag.
The U.S. and NATO invaded Afghanistan thirteen years ago under false pretenses, renewed the drug harvest and collected the profits of the trade. It didn't touch any Taliban training bases.
Washington contributed to the problem of extremism in Afghanistan in many different ways, and continues to nurture the problem over there, as well as in other countries such as Libya, Iraq, and Syria.
In Iraq and Syria, U.S. planes aren't attacking ISIS's training camps, which they helped set up, but shooting useless targets. The day will come when, like the Taliban, the religious fanatics in ISIS will also claim victory over the global coalition led by the U.S. This two-faced coalition originally empowered ISIS and continues to give it weapons and other kinds of material support.
Title: Taliban Declare 'defeat' of U.S , Allies in Afghanistan - TOI. Source: The Times of India. Date Published: December 30, 2014.
