Chaos at Kabul Airport as Shooting, Screaming is Heard

Panicked screams mixed with the sound of gunfire at Kabul airport were heard on Wednesday as thousands of Afghans desperate to escape Taliban rule begged to foreign troops to be allowed on the only planes out of the country.

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Women were filmed reaching their hands through iron railings towards US troops while screaming 'the Taliban are coming' in footage being circulated on Afghan social media accounts this morning.

Meanwhile more footage captured gunshots ringing out among crowds at the airport's north gate overnight and this morning as men, women, and children huddled nearby, barely flinching as bullets were fired into the sky.

Taliban gunmen have now surrounded the airport - the only route out of Afghanistan for thousands of refugees stranded in the capital and nearby provinces - and are checking the documents of those trying to reach it. 

That means that Afghan translators and others holding visas that would allow them on the evacuation flights are in hiding close to the airport, afraid to break cover and try to reach the runway in case the Taliban hauls them away. 

In a sign of how dire the situation has become, White House spokesman Jen Psaki was forced to admit on Tuesday that there is no guarantee that all US citizens and visa holders will be able to leave the country before troops pull out on August 31.

 'Our focus right now is on the task at hand, and that is day by day getting as many American citizens, SIV applicants, as many of the vulnerable population who are eligible to be evacuated to the airport and out on planes,' she said.

Flights that were supposed to be carrying thousands of people out of the country each day have so-far been taking off with just a few hundred aboard, with the UK evacuating some 370 people between Sunday and Monday.

General Sir Nick Carter, head of the UK armed forces, told BBC Radio 4 that Britain 'hopes' to get 1,000 people out today with seven evacuation flights going into the country - though was forced to admit that is only possible due to 'collaboration' with the Taliban.

He also flatly denied reports that people are struggling to get to the airport, saying: 'Subject to the situation remaining calm, which the Taliban are working hard to achieve alongside us, the system will work.' 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce today that the UK will take 25,000 Afghan refugees over five years including 5,000 this year - though it is unclear how exactly those people will get out of the country.

Such an operation would take months to complete at the current rate, even assuming all those who want to leave can reach the airport, and it is unclear how long the Taliban will allow the current airport amnesty to last.

Meanwhile the US has said it may issue up to 80,000 special immigrant visas to provide a route out of the country for its Afghan allies,  

Tempers were already fraying around the airport on Tuesday as gunmen opened fire into crowds, with harrowing images showing a young child with a bloodied head being carried by a man while a woman lay wounded in the road behind them.

The US army's General Frank McKenzie is leading 6,000 US troops and 900 British soldiers who are trying to evacuate as many as 50,000 Afghan refugees and thousands of other foreign citizens, including aid workers and diplomats, who live in Kabul.

For the moment, the Taliban say they are giving 'amnesty' to foreigners who wish to leave. But amid tense scenes at the capital, which fell to insurgents with astonishing rapidity, fears are growing that the tentative calm could fall apart at any moment.

Vice Admiral Sir Ben Key, who is running the British evacuation operation, told the BBC the UK will be bringing back as many people as it can, as quickly as possible, until either demand is met or 'the security situation means that we're no longer operating with consent'.

But eligible individuals have to make the trip to the airport themselves when called to do so, and the Taliban now control the access points, he added.

Sir Ben said that his forces face a race against time, and they are 'alive to the uncertainty' of the situation.

The White House today confirmed that the Taliban had promised that civilians could travel safely to the Kabul airport, but reports of insurgents beating and shooting Afghans trying to enter could rattle the uneasy deal between the country's new rulers and their Western adversaries.

Gen. McKenzie, whose forces now operate in a country almost completely dominated by the Taliban, has warned that his troops will respond forcefully to defend the airport if necessary, as US troops, backed by British SAS and Royal Marines special forces, guard the perimeter with snipers on rooftops, and machine gunners and armored cars guard the runway.

Truck-loads of Taliban fighters armed with AK-47s and rocket launchers now wait outside the airport and man the gates into it, as their blood-soaked organisation returns to power following a 20-year conflict with a global superpower that had sought to destroy them.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 12 flights had taken off, many heading to nearby cities like Doha, while others have landed at RAF bases in Cyprus.

But tens of thousands of desperate civilians who worked for the coalition are still stuck in Kabul and facing certain death unless they can be flown out of the country.

The Pentagon says it is aiming to have a flight out of Kabul every hour so that it can evacuate 9,000 people per day.

It comes after Taliban leaders held an extraordinary press conference on Tuesday to proclaim the group's return to government and to portray the outfit as a new, modernised force. 

During an astonishing 40-minute appearance, they said there would no revenge attacks, their opponents will be 'pardoned' and women will be allowed to work and study as a 'very important part of society'.

But on the streets of Kabul, the reality of life under Taliban rule was setting in, with 'terrified' women reportedly confined to their homes, and militants going door to door hunting for ex-government workers.

This year alone, the Taliban have murdered seven Coalition Forces translators, with many more wounded. The father of a US translator was also shot dead yesterday according to his family.

Around 1,700 so-called locally employed staff who worked with British forces and their family members have now been approved to come to the UK. A further 200 are having their claims assessed.

But while many are at Kabul airport waiting for a flight out, many more are in hiding in the city or elsewhere in the country, too terrified to brave the streets. As the Taliban tighten their grip, they face an uncertain future.

Last night, an interpreter called Ahmed shared his harrowing story. He said: 'My wife and I were hiding in the basement of a storeroom, but the man who gave us shelter got scared when the Taliban were nearby and asked us to leave.

'We are about half a mile from the airport. Now we have found somewhere else, a private place. I have to speak quietly because the Taliban checkpoint is nearby. Other interpreters are hiding nearby, they have children with them, so it is worse for them.

'The Taliban have positioned their gunmen at the airport and are demanding to see paperwork and visas. Apparently they let you through if your papers are valid but I do not trust them. A mistake now could cost us our lives.'

Remarkably, in spite of the presence of 7,000 elite US troops and 900 British Special Forces and Paratroopers at Hamid Karzai International Airport, the Taliban are calling the shots.

Admiral Key said the Taliban could withdraw their consent at any time. He added: 'We have to be pragmatic and honest. The Taliban are controlling what and how much we can achieve. We do not know how long we are going to have to do this and we may find the security situation makes it untenable for us to continue to evacuate people.

'The Taliban are providing the security tapestry around Kabul now - they are the providers of security, not us. At the moment we have their consent. They are happy so long as we are going about our business [of withdrawing].'

The revelation that the Taliban are already dictating terms last night caused further anxiety among those waiting for flights to the UK. Only one mercy mission left Kabul yesterday - an RAF Voyager aircraft carrying 250 passengers which was due to touch down at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire last night.

It is not known how many of those on board were eligible Afghans and how many were UK passport-holders.

Last night, former translator Farid, 33, described the 'nightmare' being experienced by those stranded in Kabul. He said: 'It is terrifying, they are on every street. This is their last chance to get us. Taliban fighters are coming to Kabul from Helmand province.

'If they recognise us they will not be waving us through their checkpoints. They are going from house to house asking if people know any government workers and people who worked for Western forces.'

Mr Johnson suggested last night there could be a way for the Taliban to win recognition from the international community.

A Downing Street spokesman said: 'He said any legitimacy of any future Taliban government will be subject to them upholding internationally agreed standards on human rights and inclusivity.'

Western nationals trying to flee Kabul have described being crushed and groped during a stampede of Afghans held at Taliban checkpoints outside the airstrip providing evacuation flights as Afghanistan is taken over by the Islamist terror group.

A young female student has told MailOnline how she feared she would be crushed to death at Kabul Airport today as thousands of people desperate to board a flight were pushed by police out of the area, causing a stampede.

While some order was restored inside the airport following yesterday's scenes of pandemonium on the runway, Aisha Ahmad said chaos still reigned outside.

'People had heard that the Americans were letting people onto the aircraft to get them out of the country,' she said.

'I didn't believe it at first, but then I went to the airport and saw that people had been allowed onto the tarmac without any checks, so I thought maybe it was true.

'There were thousands of people inside the airport,' said Aisha, 22, 'Then at one point we were all pushed back by the Taliban police to get us out of the airport and women and children were trampled under people's feet.

'I couldn't breathe in the crush and I really thought I was going to die. My feet are all swollen and covered in bruises. We thought there was a flight going to Germany which we might get on, but in the end they only took German nationals on board.'

'From what I can see in the media, the situation inside the perimeter has calmed down a bit, but that has just transferred the problem outside onto the streets. People are so desperate.'

Aisha, who studies at Kabul University, said she was desperate to leave her country after receiving 'serious threats' because of posts on her Twitter feed.

She changed her profile photo to one of former law student Breshna Musazai, who was shot twice by the Taliban in 2016 but survived and more recently worked with an NGO to help give more girls the chance to study.

She said that Kabul was like a 'ghost town' since the Taliban had arrived and most shops were closed as traders worried about the worsening security situation and the possibility of looters.

'People are very conflicted about the future and what kind of Taliban we are facing now. Some think they've changed, and others are not so sure. I personally believe they will be softer for a few months, and then after that they will be the same Taliban of old.

'We're also uncertain about how women will be treated. In some provinces they've told women not to come to work, but we don't know if that's temporary. Whether they will start punishing men for shaving their beard and women for not wearing the hijab, no-one really knows.

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'I have lost all hope and I don't think it will be an easy path for Afghan women. My mother used to tell me stories about what the Taliban did and now I fear it will all come true like a bad dream.'

'We will honour women's rights (within Islamic law)': Taliban spokesman holds first news conference in Kabul and promises they won't persecute women or take revenge 

This article has been adapted from its original source.