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Kabul streets turn silent a day after chaos; evacuations continue
A day after the chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport, the number of civilians had thinned out, news agency Reuters reported quoting a security official at the facility.
Afghanistan plunged into a crisis after the Taliban seized control of the South Asian nation in a military takeover over the last few weeks. The group took advantage of the troops' pullout from the country by the United States and Nato, and the meltdown by the Afghan forces and its government. On Sunday, the group captured the capital city of Kabul and entered the presidential palace even as President Ashraf Ghan fled the country.
As panic gripped the country, residents, fearing a repeat of the Taliban's brutal Islamist rule from 1996 to 2001, thronged the Kabul airport in a desperate attempt to escape. On Monday, thousands of Afghans stormed into the Hamid Karzai International Airport and some even clung onto the planes. At least two people lost their lives as they lost their grip and fell afterthe plane took off.
Here are the latest developments of the crisis:
Situation in Kabul
A day after the chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport, the number of civilians had thinned out, news agency Reuters reported quoting a security official at the facility. Military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan have also been resumed early on Tuesday after the runway was cleared of the crowd.
Occasional shots are also being heard from the direction of the airport, while other streets of the city remained mostly calm as against the panic and confusion scenes of yesterday.
Defiant Biden
US President Joe Biden who is facing flak for abandoning Afghanistan and sparking a major humanitarian crisis in the country rejected blame for the chaos and said, "I stand squarely behind my decision."
Biden also acknowledged the Afghan collapse played out far more quickly than the most forecasts of his administration. “This did unfold more quickly than we anticipated," he said in a statement from the White House.
The president further placed the blame on Afghan and said he warned Ghani — who was appointed Afghanistan's president in a US-negotiated agreement — to be prepared to fight a civil war with the Taliban after American forces leave the country. "They failed to do any of that," Biden also said.
Evacuations
The US has evacuated its embassy and most of the staff. It is now working to evacuate the rest of the citizens and Afghan staff that was working for them for years.
India is also evacuating its diplomats and other staff in the Indian Air Force's C17 aircraft. Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon is on the flight along with 120 other diplomats and officials who were evacuated on Tuesday.
The Indian government has also announced a provision of electronic visas to fast-track applications for those who wish to leave Afghanistan and want to come to Pakistan. The government launched "e-Emergency X-Misc Visa" on Tuesday.
