The tragic scenes at Kabul's airport have become the well-known images of the Taliban's first week in power after their capture of the capital last Sunday. Thousands of individuals, many of whom are undocumented, have continued to rush to the airport in an attempt to leave. People have clung to plane wheels on the tarmac while it took off.
The Taliban, who control the civilian side of the airport, have built up checkpoints leading to the transport hub and have fired shots into the air and used batons to try to control the people attempting to flee the land.
At least 20 people have died in and near the airport in the last seven days, according to a NATO official. Witnesses claim that some people were shot and others killed in stampedes. Afghans were determined to get their children out of the country, therefore babies and toddlers were passed across the closed airport gates to US soldiers on the opposite side.
Several nations have stated that they will accept thousands of Afghans seeking asylum, and flights carrying evacuees have flown out of Kabul's Hamid Karzai airport this week.
Biden promised to evacuate all US nationals as well as those Afghans who assisted the US in Afghanistan, such as translators and interpreters. He also stated that the US will assist Afghans who are at risk of being attacked, like as women leaders, journalists, and advocacy groups, in evacuating. In a news conference on Friday, US President Joe Biden said the US has secured the Kabul airport and 13,000 people have been evacuated since August 14.
He also expressed doubts about the Taliban's ability to build a "inclusive" administration and rule with more restraint than they did when they first came to power. He did say, though, that they had “by and large” allowed Americans access to the airport, and that if they were to effectively rule Afghanistan, they would need assistance from the US and other countries.
Every death at the Kabul airport, every child separated from his family, and every Afghan supporter of the US who is stranded, adds to the picture of an unprepared US evacuation based on a disastrous misjudgment of the capabilities of the American- and NATO-trained government military forces.
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