ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan will form a government "in the coming days," Pakistan's foreign minister said on Tuesday, following weeks of uncertainty since the Taliban overran the Afghan capital of Kabul on August 15.
Celebratory gunfire resounded across Kabul on Tuesday as Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn, after the withdrawal of the last US troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the militant group stronger than it was in 2001.
"We expect that a consensus government will be formed in the coming days in Afghanistan," Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a news conference in Islamabad.
The Taliban must revive a war-shattered economy without being able to count on the billions of dollars in foreign aid that flowed to the previous ruling elite and fed systemic corruption.
People living outside its cities face what UN officials have called a catastrophic humanitarian situation, worsened by a severe drought.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference at the airport after the US troops left that the Taliban wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the US despite two decades of hostility.
"The Islamic Emirate wants to have good diplomatic relations with the whole world," he said.