صراط عشق صراط عشق
Thousands of Afghans attempting to flee the capital had led to huge traffic jams on Sunday, but the streets of Kabul were quiet on Monday. There were scenes of chaos and panic at the international airport as hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave the war-torn country flooded the tarmac.
Earlier reports by Western news agencies suggested that the US military fired warning shots to push crowds back from the runway. The US military have reportedly created a “human wall” and were firing into the air so as to drive back Afghans seeking to gain access to aircraft and secure the safe departure of American personnel.
An American official told Reuters that US troops tasked with securing the airport fired in the air on Monday morning to dissuade hundreds of panicked Afghans from congregating near the runway.
“The crowd was out of control,” the official said, adding that “the firing was only done to defuse the chaos”.
But local sources in Afghanistan reported that US forces fired at people at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. According to the reports, some eyewitnesses have confirmed that several Afghans were killed in the shooting.
Witnesses told Reuters news agency at least five people have been killed in Kabul airport.
But The Wall Street Journal reported lower death tolls, claiming at least three people were shot and killed near the passenger terminal of the airport.
According to The Journal, US Marines had also fired warning shots late on Sunday night after dozens of Afghans breached the airport’s security perimeter and attempted to board an idling military transport plane.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport has also announced that all flights have been suspended due to overcrowding and an influx of people leaving Afghanistan. Kabul airport officials have urged people to refrain from coming to Kabul airport, as hopeful evacuees scrambling to catch a flight out of the country amid bursts of gunfire.
The recent entry of Taliban militants into the Afghan capital of Kabul has prompted pandemonium at the Hamid Karzai International Airport on Sunday and Monday, with crowds of people heading outside terminals toward airplanes.
Numerous videos and images, shared on social media, show people with suitcases and bags reportedly rushing to get on planes that are taking away members of various foreign missions.
The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan is over after its fighters swept into Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has stated that the group has gained control over the entire territory of Kabul.
The US troops were dispatched to the airport to help with the evacuation of diplomatic staff and foreign citizens based in the Afghan capital, as the United States and other Western nations were also scrambling to evacuate their diplomats and citizens.
Videos and Images of American military helicopters airlifting US embassy staff out of Kabul led numerous pundits and observers to compare the haphazard evacuation to the US’ 1975 retreat from Saigon, Vietnam.
