Chaos at Kabul airport as desperate Afghans try to flee Talibans new rule

By Latika BourkeUpdated August 17, 2021 â€" 1.52amfirst published August 16, 2021 â€" 9.34pmNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size

Warning: this article contains graphic content

Chaos has unfolded at Kabul international airport as thousands of Afghans tried to flee the country, with several people clinging to the outside of a US military plane as it took off and plunging to their deaths, officials say.

Seven people were killed on Monday during the chaos at the airport, which is still under US military control, although flights have been suspended, according to an unnamed US defence official.

The Taliban have taken control of the capital Kabul and Mohammed Naeem, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, told Al Jazeera TV: “Thanks to God, the war is over.”

At Kabul’s airport, where the US and British have relocated their embassies, there was panic and desperation, with many fearing a return to the Taliban’s repressive rule.

Thousands of Afghans arrived hoping to catch a flight out, although commercial flights have been suspended since Sunday.

Video recorded by an Iranian journalist at the airport shows hundreds of men running as the repeated sound of gunfire is heard. US troops fired warning shots as they struggled to contain the chaos.

Another clip showed dozens of men clinging to the side of a US Air Force C-17 transport plane as it taxied across the tarmac, and hundreds more running alongside it.

One video showed several people falling through the air as the plane gained altitude over the city.

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The Associated Press, citing senior military officials, said the chaos had left seven dead, including several who fell from the plane.

Shafi Arifi, who had a ticket to travel to Uzbekistan on Sunday, was unable to board his plane because it was packed with people who had raced across the tarmac and climbed aboard, with no police or airport staff in sight.

“There was no room for us to stand,” the 24-year-old said.

“Children were crying, women were shouting, young and old men were so angry and upset, no one could hear each other.

“There was no oxygen to breathe.”

After a woman fainted and was carried off the plane, Arifi gave up and went back home.

There were desperate scenes at Kabul airport as Afghans tried to board planes after the Taliban took control of the city.Credit:Twitter/@NicolaCareem

‘The world is watching’

US President Joe Biden, who has so far remained silent over the events and come under sustained political attack for the shambolic exit, said in a tweet that he would make an address at 5.45am on Tuesday AEST.

In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a snap session of the United Nations Security Council that the coming days would be pivotal.

“The world is watching,” he said.

“We cannot and must not abandon the people of Afghanistan.”

He said it was vital the Taliban continue to pay civil servants, maintained infrastructure, reopened the airport and kept hospitals and schools open.

He also called on the Security Council and the international community to use “all tools at its disposal to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan”.

French soldiers prepare to board a military plane to evacuate French citizens on Monday.Credit:AP

Germany said evacuation flights had begun and Chancellor Angela Merkel told her party that up to 10,000 people may need to be rescued, including 2500 Afghan support staff, human rights activists and lawyers.

Britain’s ambassador remained at the airport processing visas as pressure mounted in the UK for the government to urgently facilitate safe passage for interpreters and others who had assisted the allied military mission.

The UK’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace broke down as he admitted that “some people won’t get back”.

“It’s a really deep part of regret for me ... some people won’t get back,” he told radio station LBC.

“Some people won’t get back and we will have to do our best in third countries to process those people.”

Asked why he felt the situation “so personally,” Mr Wallace said: “Because I’m a soldier.”

“Because it’s sad and the West has done what it’s done, we have to do our very best to get people out and stand by our obligations and 20 years of sacrifice is what it is,” he said.

Afghan military jet shot down

Meanwhile, neighbouring Uzbekistan said it had shot down an Afghan military jet that violated its airspace on Sunday night, but did not say how many people were on board and if there were any survivors.

The jet crashed in Uzbekistan’s southernmost Surxondaryo province adjacent to Afghanistan.

“Uzbekistan’s air defence forces prevented an attempt by an Afghan military aircraft to illegally cross Uzbekistan’s border,” Bahrom Zulfikorov, a spokesman for Uzbekistan’s defence ministry, said.

On Sunday, the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, abruptly ending the Western-backed government, signalling a triumphant return of the Taliban who were ousted from the capital two decades ago, when the US began its longest-ever war after the September 11 attacks.

The US-trained Afghan army barely put up a fight as the Taliban advanced across the country in just over a week, culminating in the seizure of the capital, in a mostly peaceful manner, on Sunday.

Taliban fighters entered the city after Ghani fled, having been instructed to wait outside the city until the government had surrendered.

On Monday, they began collecting weapons from civilians, with a Taliban official saying citizens no longer needed them for their own personal protection.

“We understand people kept weapons for personal safety. They can now feel safe. We are not here to harm innocent civilians,” the official told Reuters.

Kabul resident Saad Mohseni, director of the MOBY group media company, said Taliban soldiers had come to his company compound to collect government issued weapons.

There were scattered reports of looting and armed men knocking on doors and gates, and there was less traffic than usual on eerily quiet streets. Fighters could be seen searching vehicles at one of the city’s main squares.

with AP and Reuters

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Latika Bourke is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in London.

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