One killed by gunfire amid chaotic evacuations at Kabul airport
23 August 2021, 13:47
The shooting came as the Taliban sent fighters north of the capital to eliminate pockets of armed resistance to their lightning takeover.
Gunfire at one of the gates to Kabul’s international airport has killed at least one Afghan soldier, German officials said, in the latest chaos to engulf Western efforts to evacuate people fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country.
The shooting came as the Taliban sent fighters north of the capital to eliminate pockets of armed resistance to their lightning takeover earlier this month.
The Taliban said they had retaken three districts seized by opponents the day before and had surrounded Panjshir, the last province that remains out of their control.
Afghanistan’s security forces collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance, despite 20 years of Western aid, training and assistance.
Tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee the country since, fearing a return to the brutal rule the Taliban imposed the last time they ran Afghanistan.
That has led to chaos at the airport in Kabul, the main route out of the country, where some Afghan troops are assisting Western evacuation efforts.
Gunfire broke out near one of the airport’s gates, where at least seven Afghans died a day earlier in a panicked stampede of thousands of people. The circumstances of the shooting, which occurred around dawn, remained unclear.
The German military tweeted that one member of the Afghan security forces was killed and three were wounded by “unknown attackers”.
The tragic scenes around the airport have transfixed the world. Afghans poured on to the tarmac last week and some clung to a US. military transport plane as it took off, later plunging to their deaths. At least seven people died that day, in addition to the seven killed on Sunday.
The Taliban blame the chaotic evacuation on the US military and say there is no need for Afghans to flee. They have pledged to bring peace and security after decades of war and say they will not seek revenge on those who worked with the US, Nato and the toppled Afghan government.
Addressing a conference of Muslim clerics, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid urged them to push back against Western “propaganda” about the Taliban and said the US was undermining their rule by sending planes and offering Afghans asylum.
But their fighters have violently suppressed protests and beat people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport perimeter. There have also been reports in recent days of the Taliban hunting down their former enemies.
As the airlift continues, the US government asked for 18 aircraft from US commercial carriers to assist in transporting Afghan refugees to their final destinations after their initial evacuation.
Since August 14, the US has evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of more than 30,000 people on military and coalition flights.
Tens of thousands of people — Americans, other foreigners and Afghans who assisted in the war effort — are still waiting to join the airlift, which has been slowed by security issues and US bureaucracy.
US President Joe Biden said on Sunday he would not rule out extending the evacuation beyond August 31, the date he had set for completing the withdrawal of US forces.
But Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, in an interview with Sky News, said August 31 is a “red line” and extending the American presence would “provoke a reaction”.
There are concerns that a local affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group might target the crowds outside the airport with suicide bombs or fire missiles at US aircraft.
