Despair prevails today at Kabul airport, a day after the Afghan capital was captured by Islamist guerrillas Taliban, as those hoping to escape the country gathered there to try to board any flight they could, the APE reports.
According to eyewitnesses and social media, hundreds of people have been at the airport since yesterday, Sunday and sometimes jump over obstacles at the gates trying to get on departing planes. Some of those trying to leave do not even have a passport.
There were also reports of deaths at the airport and earlier US forces fired warning shots as they tried to organize the evacuation of US personnel from the country they had occupied in 2001. In addition there are information about people falling from planes taking off, perhaps after trying to hide in their wheel system.
There are reports of four such cases today, although they could not be confirmed. Rumors circulated today that anyone arriving at the airport could board one of the departing planes, although there was no confirmation of this. The German embassy warned via Twitter that the arrival of citizens at the airport without being invited, would lead to dangerous situations.
Local media reported that the airport announced that no other commercial flights were landing or taking off and called on people not to go to the airport.
Meanwhile, many Afghan media outlets currently provide only limited services. Many broadcast only reruns, instead of a live program. Music channels have stopped broadcasting and television networks in general today choose not to air shows with women and anything else that has been criticized in the past by ultra-conservative circles.
Anger is also beginning to rise among those who feel abandoned after the collapse of Kabul.
Former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who negotiated an initial agreement with the Taliban on the withdrawal of US troops, told Fox News that the Biden administration appears to have failed in its plans. He called for a US air force to be deployed to crush the Taliban forces surrounding Kabul.
The current White House leadership has been at odds with Pompeo over the issue for months, arguing that the Donald Trump administration’s initial agreement with the Taliban did not leave many good choices in the United States, which Pompeo denies.
Meanwhile, anger in Afghanistan is directed against Ashraf Ghani, the president who fled Kabul yesterday, Sunday, by helicopter. Social media users called him a “dirty beast” for his role in capitulation, while others said his bad leadership was to blame for the fact that books and musical instruments were now being burned so that the Taliban could not find them.
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