Chaos as thousands flee Afghanistan after Taliban takeover

KABUL, Afghanistan — Thousands of radical packed into the Afghan capital’s airdrome connected Monday, rushing the tarmac and pushing onto planes successful hopeless attempts to fly the state aft the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government. U.S. troops fired informing shots arsenic they struggled to negociate the chaotic evacuation.

The Taliban swept into Kabul connected Sunday aft President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning extremity to a two-decade run successful which the U.S. and its allies had tried to alteration Afghanistan. The country’s Western-trained information forces collapsed oregon fled successful the look of an insurgent violative that tore done the state successful conscionable implicit a week, up of the planned withdrawal of the past American troops astatine the extremity of the month.

In the capital, a tense calm acceptable in, with astir radical hiding successful their homes arsenic the Taliban deployed fighters astatine large intersections. There were scattered reports of looting and equipped men knocking connected doors and gates, and determination was little postulation than accustomed connected eerily quiescent streets. Fighters could beryllium seen searching vehicles astatine 1 of the city’s main squares.

Many fearfulness chaos, aft the Taliban freed thousands of prisoners and the constabulary simply melted away, oregon a instrumentality to the benignant of brutal regularisation the Taliban imposed erstwhile it was past successful power. They raced to Kabul’s planetary airport, wherever the “civilian side” was closed until further notice, according to Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority. The subject was enactment successful power of the airspace.

Videos circulating connected societal media showed hundreds of radical moving crossed the tarmac arsenic U.S. soldiers fired informing shots successful the air. One showed a assemblage pushing and shoving its mode up a staircase, trying to committee a plane, with immoderate radical hanging disconnected the railings.

In different video, hundreds of radical could beryllium seen moving alongside a U.S. Air Force transport level arsenic it moved down a runway. Some climbed onto the broadside of the pitchy conscionable earlier takeoff. That raised questions astir however overmuch longer craft would beryllium capable to safely instrumentality disconnected and land.

Massouma Tajik, a 22-year-old information analyst, described scenes of panic astatine the airport, wherever she was hoping to committee an evacuation flight.

After waiting six hours, she heard shots from outside, wherever a assemblage of men and women were trying to ascent aboard a plane. She said U.S. troops sprayed state and fired into the aerial to disperse the crowds aft radical scaled the walls and swarmed onto the tarmac. Gunfire could beryllium heard successful the dependable messages she sent to The Associated Press.

Shafi Arifi, who had a summons to question to Uzbekistan connected Sunday, was incapable to committee her level due to the fact that it was packed with radical who had raced crossed the tarmac and climbed aboard, with nary constabulary oregon airdrome unit successful sight.

“There was nary country for america to stand,” said the 24-year-old. “Children were crying, women were shouting, young and aged men were truthful aggravated and upset, nary 1 could perceive each other. There was nary oxygen to breathe.”

After different pistillate fainted and was carried disconnected the plane, Arifi gave up and went backmost home.

The U.S. Embassy has been evacuated and the American emblem lowered, with diplomats relocating to the airdrome to assistance with the evacuation. Other Western countries person besides closed their missions and are flying retired unit and nationals.

Afghans are besides trying to permission done onshore borderline crossings, each of which are present controlled by the Taliban. Rakhmatula Kuyash, 30, was 1 of the fewer radical with a visa allowing him to transverse into Uzbekistan connected Sunday. He said his children and relatives had to enactment behind.

“I’m mislaid and I don’t cognize what to do. I near everything behind,” helium said.

The velocity of the Taliban violative done the state appears to person stunned American officials. Just days earlier the insurgents entered Kabul with small if immoderate resistance, a U.S. subject appraisal predicted it could instrumentality months for the superior to fall.

The rout threatened to erase 20 years of Western efforts to remake Afghanistan that saw much than 3,500 U.S. and allied troops killed arsenic good arsenic tens of thousands of Afghans. The archetypal penetration drove the Taliban from powerfulness and scattered al-Qaida, which had planned the 9/11 attacks portion being sheltered successful Afghanistan. Many had hoped the Western-backed Afghan authorities would usher successful a caller epoch of bid and respect for quality rights.

As the U.S. mislaid absorption connected Afghanistan during the Iraq war, the Taliban yet regrouped. The militants captured overmuch of the Afghan countryside successful caller years and past swept into cities arsenic U.S. forces prepared to retreat up of an Aug. 31 deadline.

Under the Taliban, which ruled successful accordance with a harsh mentation of Islamic law, women were mostly confined to their homes and suspected criminals faced amputation oregon nationalist execution. The insurgents person sought to task greater moderation successful caller years, but galore Afghans stay skeptical.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, tweeted that fighters had been instructed not to participate immoderate location without support and to support “life, spot and honor.” The Taliban person besides said they volition enactment retired of the upscale diplomatic 4th lodging the U.S. Embassy analyzable and the posh villas of U.S.-allied erstwhile warlords who person fled the state oregon gone into hiding.

Those assurances are portion of an effort by the Taliban to “shape the communicative that their accession to powerfulness is morganatic — a connection for some wrong Afghanistan and beyond its borders,” the Texas-based backstage quality steadfast Stratfor wrote.

“The velocity of the Taliban’s last beforehand suggests little subject dominance than effectual governmental insurgency coupled with an incohesive Afghan governmental strategy and information unit struggling with flagging morale.”

When the Taliban past seized Kabul successful 1996, it had been heavy damaged successful the civilian warfare that broke retired among rival warlords aft the Soviet withdrawal 7 years earlier. The metropolis was past location to astir a cardinal people, astir traveling connected dusty roads by bicycle oregon aging taxi.

Today Kabul is simply a built-up metropolis location to 5 cardinal radical wherever luxury vehicles and SUVs conflict to propulsion done endemic postulation jams.

Wahidullah Qadiri, a nonmigratory of the city, said helium hoped for bid aft decades of warfare that person claimed the lives of 2 of his brothers and a cousin.

“We haven’t seen thing but catastrophes and fighting,” helium said, “so we ever unrecorded with anticipation for a long-lasting peace.”

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Faiez reported from Istanbul, Krauss from Jerusalem and Gannon from Guelph, Canada. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell successful Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Samya Kullab successful Baghdad and Daria Litvinova successful Moscow contributed.