Chaos at Kabul airport as hundreds try to leave; viral videos show people falling to their death from US aircraft

Kabul, August 16

Thousands of civilians desperate to flee Afghanistan thronged Kabul airport on Monday after the Taliban seized the capital, prompting the US military to suspend evacuations as the United States came under mounting criticism at home over its pullout.

Crowds converged on the airport seeking to escape, including some clinging to a US military transport plane as it taxied on the runway, according to footage posted by a media company.  Senior US military officials say chaos at the Kabul airport this morning left seven people dead, including some who fell from a departing American military transport jet.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss ongoing operations.

The Taliban's rapid conquest of Kabul follows the US withdrawal of troops after 20 years of war that cost billions of dollars.

President Joe Biden defended his decision to pull out, ending the United States' longest war, arguing that Afghan forces had to fight back against the Islamist Taliban.

But the speed at which Afghan cities fell in just days and the likely crackdowns on freedom of speech and women's rights gained in 20 years have sparked angry criticism.

"If President Biden truly has no regrets about his decision to withdraw, then he is disconnected from reality when it comes to Afghanistan," a Twitter post from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham read.

Republican Representative Jim Banks, a member of the House armed services committee, said on Fox News that Biden should explain his actions to the American people.

"What was more shocking to me than the images coming out of Afghanistan is what's happening right here at home," he said.

"We have never seen an American leader abdicate his responsibilities and leadership like Joe Biden has. He's in hiding. The lights are on at the White House, but nobody's home.”

Also read: 'Ghani Baba fled with his crooks and screwed up, his legacy is a stain': Deleted tweet of Afghan Embassy

The moment a person falls from a plane in Afghanistan, because he were clinging to the tires of the airplane.#Afghanistan #Talibans #Afghanishtan #AfghanWomen #Kabul #KabulHasFallen #kabulairport #AfghanistanBurning #KabulFalls pic.twitter.com/hVb2U3zJ1R

— Musawer khalil andarabi (@MusawerAndarabi) August 16, 2021

Taliban to declare Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: Official

Kabul moment! pic.twitter.com/nj5WKiH9dM

— Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) August 16, 2021

Taliban declares 'war is over' as president and diplomats flee Kabul

Where is Joe Biden?"

Jim Messina, a White House deputy chief of staff under former President Barack Obama, defended Biden's move.

"There's been bipartisan consensus that it was time to get out of Afghanistan, Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State, said earlier this month he supported Biden’s plan, and we've been there 20 years. It's America's longest-running war, it is time to get out," he said on Fox.

"Why should American troops be fighting a civil war that Afghan troops this week refused to fight for themselves, it was time to get out.”

Airport chaos

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled on Sunday as the Islamist militants entered Kabul virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

The United States and other foreign powers have rushed to fly out diplomatic and other staff but the United States temporarily halted all evacuation flights to clear people from the airfield, a U.S. defence official told Reuters.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say how long the pause would last.

It was not immediately clear how five of seven people died at the airport. A US official said troops had fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way on to a military flight taking US diplomats and embassy staff out of the city.

One witness, waiting for a flight out for more than 20 hours, said it was unclear if the five had been shot or killed in a stampede. US officials at the airport were not immediately available for comment.

Videos from the airport showed people falling to their deaths from an aircraft that had taken off from Kabul airport and lifeless bodies after security forces opened fire on a mob of Afghans trying to enter the airport.

People thronged to Kabul airport from late on Sunday, wandering around the runways in the dark, pulling luggage and jostling for a place on one of the last commercial flights to leave before US forces took over air traffic control.

On Monday, dozens of men tried to clamber onto an overhead departure gangway to board a plane while hundreds of others milled about, a social media video showed.

On Monday, dozens of men tried to clamber onto an overhead departure gangway to board a plane while hundreds of others milled about, a social media video showed.

Another post showed men inspecting a body on a roof of a person who had allegedly tried to stow away in the undercarriage of an aircraft and fallen to his death. 

A third showed people clambering onto the wheels of taxiing US military aircraft. Another one showed two bodies falling off a plane. None of these videos have been independently verified.

Footage shows people crowding the airport tarmac in Kabul after the Taliban entered the Afghan capital. #Afghanistan #AfghanistanBurning #Taliban #TalibanTakeover #Talibans #KabulHasFallen #Afghanishtan #अफगानिस्तान #तालिबान #काबुल pic.twitter.com/7f4O7Xmc5F

— rukhsana afreen (@RukhsanaAfreen) August 16, 2021

'No one shall be harmed'

Suhail Shaheen, a spokesperson for the Taliban, said in a message on Twitter that their fighters were under strict orders not to harm anyone.

"Life, property and honour of no one shall be harmed but must be protected by the mujahideen," he said.

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the whole country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.

US officers had long worried that corruption would undermine the resolve of badly paid, ill-fed and erratically supplied front-line soldiers.

Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of fighters.

Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban's political office, told Al Jazeera TV the form of Afghanistan's new government would be made clear soon. He said the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and called for peaceful international relations.

The militants sought to project a more moderate face, promising to respect women's rights and protect both foreigners and Afghans.

But many Afghans fear the Taliban will return to past harsh practices. During their 1996-2001 rule, women could not work and punishments such as public stoning, whipping and hanging were administered.

"Everyone is worried," a former government employee now in hiding in Kabul said. "They're not targeting people yet but they will—that's the reality. Maybe in two or three weeks, that's why people are fighting to get out now."

Both the United Nations and the United States said last week they had received reports that Taliban fighters were executing surrendering government soldiers.

The Pentagon on Sunday authorised another 1,000 troops to help evacuate US citizens and Afghans who worked for them, expanding its security presence on the ground to almost 6,000 troops.

A US State Department spokesperson said that all embassy personnel, including Ambassador Ross Wilson, had been transferred to Kabul airport.

— Agencies/TNS

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