Kabul: The Taliban fired in the air and used batons to make people line up in orderly queues outside Kabul airport on Sunday, witnesses said, a day after seven people were killed in a crush at the gates. On Sunday, there were no major injuries as gunmen beat back the crowds and long lines of people were being formed, the witnesses said.
Britain’s defence ministry said seven Afghans, including a toddler, were killed in the crush around the airport as thousands of people desperately tried to get a flight out, a week after the Islamist militant group took control of the country. Sky News showed footage of soldiers standing on a wall on Saturday attempting to pull the injured out from the crush and spraying people with a hose to prevent them from getting dehydrated. “Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the ministry said in a statement.
A Nato official said that 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. Panicked Afghans have tried to get on flights abroad, fearing reprisals and a return to a harsh version of Islamic law the Sunni Muslim group exercised when it was in power two decades ago. The WHO and Unicef called for a humanitarian air bridge to deliver aid to Afghanistan to help more than 18 million people in need.
Leaders of the Taliban, who have sought to show a more moderate face since capturing Kabul last Sunday, have begun talks on forming a government. The US and other foreign countries, including Britain have brought in several thousand troops to manage the evacuations of foreign citizens and vulnerable Afghans, but have stayed away from the outside areas of the airport. “Our forces are maintaining strict distance from the outer areas of the Kabul airport to prevent any clashes with the Taliban,” the Nato official said.
A Taliban official said that “we are seeking complete clarity on foreign forces’ exit plan”. “Managing chaos outside Kabul airport is a complex task,” the official said. Another Taliban official blamed the US for the chaotic evacuation. “America, with all its power and facilities... has failed to bring order to the airport. There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is chaos only at Kabul airport,” Taliban official said.
Afghans who fled the country this week have spoken about their despair at leaving loved ones behind and the uncertain future ahead. “It was very difficult to leave my country,” a veiled woman said in Doha. “I love my country.” On Saturday, the US and Germany warned their citizens in Afghanistan to avoid the airport. American officials cited the possibility of another threat: an attack by the Taliban’s Islamic State rivals. With the risks rising, 5,800 US troops at the airport had been “metering” the flow of Americans, Afghan allies and other foreigners through the gates, according to Major General William Taylor of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. Taylor said that in the past week the US has evacuated 17,000 people, including 2,500 Americans.
Australia ran four flights into Kabul on Saturday night, evacuating more than 300 people, including Australians, Afghan visa holders, New Zealanders, US and British citizens, PM Scott Morrison said.
The Taliban’s swoop into power came as US-led forces were withdrawing after a 20-year war that President Joe Biden sought to conclude. Biden has come under heavy criticism at home and abroad for the way the war has ended. On Saturday former President Donald Trump called it “the greatest foreign policy humiliation” in US history, even though his own administration negotiated the withdrawal deal last year.
Taliban meet Karzai in talks to form govt
A Taliban commander and senior leader of the Haqqani Network terrorist group, Anas Haqqani, has met former president Hamid Karzai for talks, a Taliban official said, amid efforts by the Taliban to set up a government. Karzai was accompanied by the old government's main peace envoy, Abdullah Abdullah, in the meeting, said the Taliban official. He gave no more details. The Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban, who captured Kabul. The network, based on the border with Pakistan, was accused over recent years of some of the most deadly terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.
Taliban destroy statue of foe, stoking fear
A statue of a prominent anti-Taliban fighter killed by the group before they took power for the first time in the 1990s has been decapitated in Bamiyan city, residents said. Abdul Ali Mazari, a political leader who represented ethnic Hazara community, was declared a national martyr in 2016 - more than two decades after the Taliban said he had died in a gunfight aboard a helicopter. “We are not sure who has blown up the statue, but there are different groups of Taliban present here, including some... who are known for their brutality,” a resident said. Pictures of the damaged statue being shared on social media showed it largely intact, but with the head resting at the plinth. Another resident said a group of Taliban fighters used a rocket-propelled grenade to destroy it earlier. “The statue is destroyed and people are sad — but also scared,” she said.