The Taliban fired in the air and used batons to force people desperate to flee Afghanistan to form orderly queues outside Kabul airport on Sunday, Reuters quoted witnesses as saying, a day after seven people were killed in a crush at the gates.
On Sunday, there were no major injuries as gunmen beat back the crowds and long lines of people formed, the witnesses said, and Washington said it was now able to get large numbers of Americans into the airport.
Britain, meanwhile, on Sunday said that seven Afghans have died in the chaos near Kabul airport as its defence secretary expressed support for extending Washington’s end-of-the-month deadline to permit the evacuation of so many people.
The United States and its allies have been struggling to cope with the thousands of foreign nationals and Afghans trying to flee Afghanistan in the week since the Taliban retook power.
“Our sincere thoughts are with the families of the seven Afghan civilians who have sadly died in crowds in Kabul,” a defence ministry spokesman said without giving the circumstances.
Britain’s Sky News had on Saturday aired footage of at least three dead bodies covered in white tarpaulins outside the airport. Sky reporter Stuart Ramsay, who was at the airport, said that people at the front of one part of the crowd were being “crushed”, while others were “dehydrated and terrified”.
The defence ministry spokesman said: “Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible.”
The ministry said separately that the UK had now evacuated nearly 4,000 people from Afghanistan since August 13.
A NATO official said at least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the airport. Some were shot and others died in stampedes, witnesses have said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations on Tuesday to “ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people”.
The US and other foreign countries including Britain have brought in several thousand troops to help evacuate foreign citizens and vulnerable Afghans, but have been careful to avoid clashes with the Taliban.
A Taliban official said “we are seeking complete clarity on foreign forces’ exit plan.”
“Managing chaos outside Kabul airport is a complex task,” the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
The World Health Organization and UN children’s agency UNICEF called for a humanitarian air bridge to deliver aid to Afghanistan to help more than 18 million people in need.
On Saturday, the US and Germany told their citizens in Afghanistan to avoid travelling to Kabul airport, citing security risks as desperate crowds gathered, but Washington said on Sunday the situation had improved.
The United States has “secured the capacity to get large numbers of Americans safe passage through the airport and onto the airfield”, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union”.
Army Major General William Taylor said on Saturday that 5,800 US troops remain at the airport, which “remains secure”. On Sunday, a Pentagon spokesman said the United States would deploy 18 commercial aircraft to transport people who have been flown out of Afghanistan.
President Vladimir Putin rejected the idea of sending evacuees to countries near Russia, saying he did not want “militants showing up here under cover of refugees”.
Forces holding out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan said this weekend they have taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley where remnants of government forces and other militia groups have gathered.
Ahmad Massoud, son of one of the main leaders of Afghanistan›s anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s, said he would not surrender areas under his control to the Taliban, al-Arabiya TV reported on Sunday.
Taliban leaders are meanwhile trying to hammer out a new government and the group›s co-founder, Mullah Baradar, has arrived in Kabul for talks.
Commanders of the group are set to meet former governors and bureaucrats in more than 20 of Afghanistan›s 34 provinces over the next few days to ensure their safety and seek cooperation, the Taliban official said.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS
