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Airport in Kabul still tense as 7 die in panicked crush
The Taliban moved to confront the first stirrings of armed resistance since capturing nearly all of Afghanistan in a matter of days earlier this month.
At least seven Afghans died in a panicked crush of people trying to enter Kabul’s international airport since the Taliban takeover, the British military said on Sunday, as thousands were still trying to flee the country in a chaotic exodus.
The Taliban moved to confront the first stirrings of armed resistance since capturing nearly all of Afghanistan in a matter of days earlier this month. Anti-Taliban fighters claimed to have seized three mountainous districts, and a prominent militia commander in the only province not yet under Taliban control pledged to fight back if attacked.
The British military on Sunday acknowledged at least seven deaths at the airport. Others may have been trampled, suffocated or suffered heart attacks as Taliban fighters fired into the air to try to drive back the crowds. Soldiers covered several corpses in white clothing.
A Nato official said at least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the airport. Some were shot and others died in stampedes, witnesses have said. “The situation at Kabul airport remains extremely challenging and unpredictable,” the Nato official said.
Kabul’s airport has seen days of chaos since the Taliban entered the capital on August 15. Thousands poured onto the tarmac last week, and several Afghans plunged to their deaths after clinging to a US military cargo plane as it took off, some of the seven killed on August 16.
The US embassy, which has relocated to the military side of the airport, has told American citizens and others not to come to the airport until they receive precise instructions.
Taliban blame evacuation crisis on US military
The Taliban blamed the chaotic evacuation on the US military, saying there’s no need for Afghans to be afraid, even though their fighters are beating people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport. “All Afghanistan is secure, but the airport, which is managed by the Americans, has anarchy,” Amir Khan Motaqi, a senior Taliban official, said.
Speaking to an Iranian state TV channel in a video call, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem blamed the deaths at the airport on the Americans.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s top political leader arrived in Kabul for talks on forming a new government. The presence of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who returned to Kandahar earlier this week from Qatar, was confirmed by a Taliban official.
American airlines told to help with airlift efforts
The US on Sunday enlisted several major airlines in its frantic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans, Americans and other foreigners from Kabul. Defence secretary Lloyd Austin activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to aid the onward movement of people arriving at US bases in West Asia, the Pentagon said.
Baradar in Kabul, talks on over govt formation
Taliban leaders are meanwhile trying to hammer out a new government, and the group’s co-founder, Mullah Baradar, has arrived in Kabul for talks.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said the conflict affects the security situation in Russia. He slammed an idea of western countries to send refugees to Central Asian countries while their visas to the US and Europe are being processed.
