Afghanistan party
© STRINGER/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockCelebrations have broken out across Afghanistan since US forces withdrew
At least 17 people were killed by celebratory gunshots fired by the Taliban in Kabul on Friday, according to reports.

The Shamshad news agency said "aerial shooting" in the Afghan capital killed 17 people and wounded 41.

Tolo news agency gave a similar toll.

It comes as the Taliban claims it has seized the last remaining region in Afghanistan which had been holding out against the group.

The gunfire drew a rebuke from the main Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.


"Avoid shooting in the air and thank God instead," Mujahid said in a message on Twitter.

"Bullets can harm civilians, so don't shoot unnecessarily."

At least 14 people were also injured in celebratory firing in Nangarhar province east of Kabul, said Gulzada Sangar, spokesman for an area hospital in the provincial capital of Jalalabad.

The shooting came after after Taliban sources said their fighters had seized control of Panjshir, the last province in Afghanistan holding out against the Islamist group.


Leaders of opposition to the Taliban have denied that the province has fallen.

Taliban sources also said on Friday that the announcement of a new government would be pushed back to the next week.

The group's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, reported by some insiders to be in line to lead the new government, said in remarks on Qatar's Al Jazeera channel that the new administration "will include all factions of the Afghan people."


Comment: That includes women: Pepe Escobar: How Russia-China are stage-managing the Taliban


"We are doing our utmost efforts to improve their living conditions. The government will provide security, because it is necessary for economic development," he said.

Meanwhile, there were some signs of normality creeping back in the Afghan capital.

Qatar's ambassador to Afghanistan said a technical team was able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid, according to Al Jazeera, which also cited its correspondent as saying domestic flights had restarted.


Comment: Russia's embassy never closed, they said that with the arrival of the Taliban, Kabul actually became safer.



The airport has been closed since the United States completed operations on Aug. 30 to evacuate diplomats, foreigners and Afghans deemed at risk from the Taliban.


Comment: The evacuation operations which led to the deaths of over 100 Afghans, with the evidence showing that most of them died not from a suicide bomber, but by gunfire from the US side.


The Taliban's main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, also said one of the main foreign exchange dealers in Kabul had reopened.

Impoverished Afghanistan's economy has been thrown into disarray by the takeover by the Taliban. Many banks are closed and cash is in short supply.

The United Nations has said it will convene an international aid conference in Geneva on September 13 to help avert what U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called a "looming humanitarian catastrophe".

Without the aid that has sustained the country for years, the Taliban will find it hard to avert economic collapse, according to analysts.

Western powers say they are prepared to engage with the Taliban and send humanitarian aid, but that formal recognition of the government and broader economic assistance will depend on action - not just promises - to safeguard human rights.