Photo: SAHAR RAHIMI – BBC PERSIAN SERVICE / copyright
Scenes of chaos and despair replay at Kabul International Airport as people try to flee Afghanistan after Taliban fighters entered the capital and President Ashraf Ghani left the country.
“It took me 5 hours to get to the airport”, a student from 22 years.
“ My feet, they have blisters and it is difficult for me to stand up.
“It was like a military city: people wore traditional clothes, but they had weapons and they shot into the air. It reminded me of the Jihad I heard from my parents, ”he says desperately.
The young man is about to start a master’s degree in Istanbul, Turkey. He returned to Kabul to spend time with his family before his course began, but was surprised that the government was falling apart.
“Now that I am leaving, I think of my family, they have no way of escaping. I don’t see a future. ”
Journalist Bilal Sarwary shared this video of the airport recorded in the early hours of 16 August (local time).
Hamid Karzai international airport. 16 August, 2021. pic.twitter.com/LXsAQPpFXG
– BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) August 15, 2021
The United States and other countries were trying to evacuate their embassy staff and many terrified Afghans were also trying to leave the capital.
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One witness described the airport departure lounge turning into chaos after people said boarding passes were they were printing on secrecy for officials and high-profile individuals.
Awful, chaotic scenes at Hamid Karzai International Airport. People scrambling and no where to go. Woman says “look at the state of the people of Afghanistan” # Kabul pic.twitter.com/ 5Ohe1c 80 uB
– Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) August 15, 2021
“We waited almost eight hours, until the airport staff began to leave their counters, first the check-in counters and then the migration and passport counters,” he says.
“There was no security check. We walked through and saw that the large glass doors were smashed. People ran to the last plane. It was almost a stampede “.
# Kabul : Another video emerges from this morning outside Kabul airport . Gunfire can be heard too. pic.twitter.com/elTB2mlpQ1
– Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan)
August 15, 10332
The United States sent military helicopters to evacuate personnel from its embassy in Kabul.
After several hours of siege on the outskirts of the city, the Taliban ordered their fighters to enter Kabul on Sunday.
According to spokespersons for the group, the members of the organization were going to enter to avoid chaos and looting after the forces d and security will abandon parts of Kabul.
«فرار» برای زنده ماندن… # فرودگاه_کابل # Kabul_Airport pic.twitter.com/fjJmrWCXYg
– Dr. Sahar Rahimi (@SaharRahimi_) August 16, 2021
As that happened, hundreds Kabul residents were trying to leave the city with the belongings they managed to gather.
Many tried to escape Kabul on foot for fear of retaliation by Taliban fighters and the uncertainty in the face of a potential wave of violence.
People stood in long lines Sunday in front of banks in Kabul with the intention of withdrawing their savings.
Some families arrived at the Hasa-e-Awal Park refugee camp in Kabul on Saturday, escaping the fighting outside the capital.
Nooria, from 35 years old (bottom left), he left his home in Kunduz after a rocket destroyed it and injured one of his sons.
Women displaced by the fighting in Kunduz took refuge in a mosque in Kabul, while the Taliban continued to advance towards the capture of the capital.
The BBC has received messages and testimonies from women who fear what may happen to their lives under an Islamic government of the Taliban.
They are concerned that the same type of government that the group instituted in the decade of the 90, when he was in power.
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