The British military said on Sunday that the crowd trying to enter Kabul International Airport panicked and killed seven Afghan civilians in the crowd, indicating that those trying to escape from the Taliban to take over the country are still in danger.
At the time of the death, a group of fighters opposed to Taliban rule fought insurgents in the mountains and valleys of northern Kabul and occupied several rural areas. Although the details of the battle are not yet clear, it marks the first organized rebellion against the Taliban since the Taliban launched raids across the country in less than a week to seize most of the country and its capital. The Taliban deployed fighters on Sunday and may launch an offensive there.
Since the Taliban entered the capital on August 15, Kabul Airport is now one of the few ways for millions of people in the city to leave the country. Since the Taliban entered the capital on August 15, the airport has gone through several days of chaos. Last Monday, thousands of people rushed into the airport in chaos and saw the United States attempting to clear the runway with a low-flying attack helicopter. Several Afghans fell and died while hanging from the side of a US military cargo plane. Seven people were killed that day alone.
In Saturday’s chaotic scene, heavily armed British and Western troops tried to control a large enough crowd in the satellite photos squeezing into the airport. They took away some people who were sweating and pale. As the temperature reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit), the soldiers used hoses to spray water on the gathered people, or bottled water on their heads.
The British military admitted on Sunday that seven civilians were killed in the crowd. There were other stampedes and crushes among the crowd, especially when Taliban militants fired into the air to disperse those desperate to leave the country by plane.
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement: “The situation on the ground remains extremely challenging, but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and reliably as possible.”
It is not clear whether the victims were crushed, suffocated or had a heart attack in the crowd. The soldiers covered several corpses with white clothes to prevent them from being seen. Other troops stood on concrete barriers or containers, trying to calm the crowd. Gunshots sounded from time to time.
The chaos at Kabul Airport comes at a time of new threats from the affiliates of the Islamic State Group of Afghanistan, with US military planes conducting fast diving combat landings at the airport. Other planes fired flares during takeoff in an attempt to confuse heat-seeking missiles that might be aimed at the plane.
The chairman of the Taliban steering committee, Amir Khan Motaqi, criticized the situation in the United States at the airport in an audio clip posted online on Sunday. He described the actions of the United States as “tyranny”-even Taliban fighters beat and shot people who tried to enter the airport last week.
“The whole of Afghanistan is safe, but the airport managed by the Americans is in anarchy,” he said. “The United States should not slander itself, it should not make the world embarrassing itself, nor should it let our people have such a mentality that (the Taliban) is an enemy.”
Late Saturday night, Taliban spokesman Mohamed Naim spoke to Iran’s national television channel during a video call, and also blamed the Americans for the death at the airport, which quickly turned into a combative interview.
“The Americans announced that we will take you to the United States, and people gather at Kabul Airport,” Naim said. “If it is announced in any country in the world now, will people go?”
The host of Iranian National Television, which has been critical of the United States since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, quickly said: “This will not happen in Iran.”
Naeem replied: “Make sure this will happen anywhere.”
At the same time, fighting broke out in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Kabul. Troops organized under the banner of the “People’s Uprising” occupied three areas around the Andalab Valley. These areas are located in the Hindu Kush Mountains near Panjshir, the only province still not under the control of the Taliban.
On Sunday, the Taliban posted a video on the Internet showing fighters, including their elite special forces, are preparing to go there, possibly fighting the “People’s Uprising” forces. Four officials said the Taliban had entered the Kashnabad area of the Andarab Valley to kidnap children who opposed them.
Khair Mohammad Khairkhwa, the former head of intelligence in Balkh province, and Abdul Ahmad Dadgar, another leader of the uprising, claimed that Taliban militants attacked people’s houses and burned them down while taking children. Two other officials who asked not to be named also claimed that the Taliban had detained the children of the fighters. The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the fighting.
Late on Sunday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin launched the initial phase of the Civil Reserve Aviation Fleet program, asking American Airlines to provide 18 aircraft to assist in the transportation of Afghan refugees evacuated from Afghanistan by military aircraft. According to the voluntary plan, civil airlines have increased the capabilities of military aircraft during national defense-related crises. The plan was born after the Berlin airlift.
The Biden government requires American Airlines, Atlas Air Lines, Delta Air Lines, and Omni Air to provide three aircraft each; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines.
At the same time, the top political leader of the Taliban has arrived in Kabul to negotiate the formation of a new government. The existence of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who returned to Kandahar from Qatar earlier this week, was confirmed by a Taliban official who asked not to be named because he did not Right to talk to the news media.
Afghan officials familiar with the talks in the capital said that the Taliban have stated that they will not announce anything to the government until the deadline for the withdrawal of the United States on August 31 has passed.
— Akhgar reports from Istanbul and Gambrell reports from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, contributed to this report.
© 2021 Canadian Press
