Aug. 18 2021 The day after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital Kabul, Kabul International Airport remained overcrowded as people tried to leave the country on a plane, Afghan Dawn News Network reported Wednesday. Taliban commanders on duty at the airport say at least 40 people have been killed in stampedes and shootings so far.
Afghans at Kabul International Airport are reported to be of all ages, men and women, some of whom do not have passports, but they all want to leave Afghanistan on flights. “They said a lot of people had left Afghanistan without passports, so we came here on the evening of the 17th, ” said a Kabul resident who arrived at the airport at night. Others said that “the situation in Afghanistan is not clear, the direction of the future is not known, do not know where to go”.
Mabra Hekmat, the Taliban commander at Kabul airport, said he hoped people would not be fooled by rumours of departure and asked to avoid travel to the airport as much as possible. “People shouldn’t climb those foreign planes, 30 to 40 people were killed or injured at the airport on the 16th alone,” he said. People should stay at home, where it is safe. “The United States and some Western countries resumed Afghan flights to evacuate their citizens, but commercial flights remained suspended.
