Chaos at Kabul airport, thousands try to flee

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

A day after the Taliban captured their country, there were grisly scenes at the Kabul international airport as thousands of Afghans tried to flee the country with at least seven reportedly killed in the evacuation chaos that lasted all day. Videos showed thousands of Afghans rushing onto the tarmac towards a taxiing plane even as US troops fired warning shots. Three persons clinging to a US military jet as it took off fell to death. Hundreds ran alongside a US plane as it moved down the runway with some clinging to its side.

Also read: Editorial: Humanitarian crisis

There were lifeless bodies on the airport premises after unidentified security forces opened fire on a large crowd trying to enter the airport and clamber aboard planes waiting for takeoff. As major European nations and the US deployed their military aircraft throughout the day to evacuate their diplomats and local Afghan staff, there were hundreds of posts on social media from distraught Afghans who had served with them but were left behind. Women had heart-rending tales of having been abandoned.

Uzbekistan shot down an Afghan military jet that entered its airspace while the pilot was detained. Taliban fighters having entered Kabul without a fight on Sunday were shown sauntering into the Presidential Palace while its security personnel patrolled the streets on SUVs. Taking heed of the international community’s exhortation for an orderly transfer of power, the Taliban said leaders from Afghanistan would travel to Doha for the purpose. With Ghani having fled, former President Hamid Karzai has pitched himself for the negotiations with Kabul’s chief peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah.