Kabul airport plunges into chaos as Taliban patrol capital

By AHMAD SEIR, TAMEEM AKHGAR, KATHY GANNON and JON GAMBRELL

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Thousands of Afghans rushed into Kabul’s main airdrome Monday, immoderate truthful hopeless to flight the Taliban that they held onto a subject pitchy arsenic it took disconnected and plunged to their deaths. At slightest 7 radical died successful the chaos, U.S. officials said, arsenic America’s longest warfare ended with its force the victor.

The crowds came portion the Taliban enforced their regularisation implicit the superior of 5 cardinal radical aft a lightning beforehand crossed the state that took conscionable implicit a week to dethrone the country’s Western-backed government. There were nary large reports of abuses oregon fighting, but galore residents stayed location and remained fearful aft the insurgents’ takeover saw prisons emptied and armories looted.

A resolute U.S. President Joe Biden said helium stood “squarely behind” his determination to retreat American forces and acknowledged the “gut-wrenching” images unfolding successful Kabul. Biden said helium faced a prime betwixt honoring a antecedently negotiated withdrawal statement oregon sending thousands much troops backmost to statesman a 3rd decennary of war.

“After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard mode that determination was ne'er a bully clip to retreat U.S. forces,” Biden said successful a televised code from the White House.

The president said American troops should not beryllium warring and dying successful a warfare “that Afghan forces are not consenting to combat for themselves.” He warned the Taliban not to interfere with the evacuation efforts.

Across Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that thousands had been wounded successful fighting. Elsewhere, information forces and politicians handed implicit their provinces and bases without a fight, apt believing the two-decade Western experimentation to remake Afghanistan would not endurance the resurgent Taliban. The past American troops had planned to retreat astatine the extremity of the month.

“The satellite is pursuing events successful Afghanistan with a dense bosom and heavy disquiet astir what lies ahead,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

As the U.S. subject and others continued evacuation flights, Afghans swarmed implicit the planetary airport’s tarmac. Some climbed into craft parked connected the taxiway, portion others dangled precariously disconnected a pitchy bridge.

U.S. troops took positions to defender the progressive runway, but the assemblage stormed past them and their armored vehicles. Gunshots rang out. As 1 U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III tried to instrumentality off, a chopper did debased runs successful beforehand of it to effort to thrust radical disconnected the runway.

Videos showed a radical of Afghans hanging onto the level conscionable earlier takeoff and respective falling done the aerial arsenic the airplane rapidly gained altitude implicit the city.

Senior American subject officials, who spoke connected information of anonymity to sermon the ongoing operation, told The Associated Press that the chaos near 7 dead, including respective who fell from the flight. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. forces killed 2 radical helium described arsenic carrying weapons successful the melee. He said 1,000 much U.S. troops would beryllium deployed to unafraid the airfield and backmost up the 2,500 already there.

All flights astatine the airdrome — some subject and civilian — were halted until Afghan civilians could beryllium cleared from the runway, Kirby added.

Late Monday night, hundreds of radical remained trapped betwixt American forces trying to propulsion them retired of the airdrome and Taliban forces trying to support them in, witnesses said. An Associated Press writer besides saw what appeared to beryllium an airstrike people 2 vehicles adjacent the airport.

Earlier, much than 300 radical were evacuated aboard a Turkish Airlines formation aft Turkish soldiers cleared the runway. Senol Celik, who identified himself arsenic a Turkish Embassy employee, said radical “threw themselves successful beforehand of the plane.”

“They wanted to committee the plane. They wanted to flight Afghanistan,” helium said. “We were acrophobic that the level would instrumentality and that we would participate that chaos. We were bittersweet for those people.”

Shafi Arifi, who had a summons to question to Uzbekistan connected Sunday, was incapable to committee his level due to the fact that it was packed with radical who 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 a pistillate fainted and was carried disconnected the plane, Arifi gave up and returned home.

Other Afghans, similar Rakhmatula Kuyash, are besides trying to permission done onshore borderline crossings, each of which are present controlled by the Taliban.

“I’m mislaid and I don’t cognize what to do,” said Kuyash, who crossed into Uzbekistan connected Sunday aft leaving his children and relatives successful Afghanistan. “I near everything behind.”

Others were not truthful lucky. Uzbekistan aerial defenses changeable down an Afghan subject craft that tried to participate the state without permission. The 2 pilots were reportedly injured and successful custody.

Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani, who earlier near the country, faced Russian allegations helium fled Kabul with 4 cars and a chopper afloat of cash. His whereabouts remained unclear.

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 besides closed their missions and were flying retired unit and their citizens.

In interviews with U.S. tv networks, nationalist information advisor Jake Sullivan blamed the Afghan subject for the Taliban’s accelerated takeover, saying it lacked the volition to fight.

The Taliban violative 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 tens of thousands of Afghans killed arsenic good arsenic much than 3,500 U.S. and allied troops. The archetypal penetration successful 2001 drove the Taliban from powerfulness and scattered al-Qaida, which had planned the 9/11 attacks portion being sheltered successful Afghanistan.

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.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations’ precocious commissioner for refugees, separately described interactions with the Taliban arsenic “relatively positive.”

On Monday, Nillan, a 27-year-old nonmigratory of Kabul who asked to beryllium identified lone by her archetypal sanction for fearfulness of reprisals, said she did not spot a azygous pistillate retired connected the streets during a 15-minute drive, “only men and boys.”

“It feels similar clip has stopped. Everything’s changed,” she told the AP.

She added, “It feels similar our beingness and our aboriginal has ended.”

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Akhgar reported from Istanbul, Gannon from Guelph, Canada, and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss successful Jerusalem, Rahim Faiez successful Istanbul, Edith M. Lederer astatine the United Nations, Jamey Keaten successful Geneva, Samya Kullab successful Baghdad, Daria Litvinova successful Moscow, Robert Burns successful Washington, James LaPorta successful Boca Raton, Florida, and Zeina Karam successful Beirut contributed to this report.