Afghanistan: Images that show the chaos and despair of Afghans after the Taliban's entry into Kabul
Scenes of chaos at Kabul airport
Scenes of chaos and despair were seen at Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan, amid the attempted mass flight after the fundamentalist Taliban group entered the capital and took control of the entire country.
"It took me 5 hours to get to the airport," a 22-year-old student told the BBC.
"My feet are hurting, they have blisters and it's hard for me to stand up."
"It was like a military city: people wore traditional clothes but they had guns and they shot into the air. It reminded me of the Jihad (religious war) I heard from my parents," he added desperately.
Journalist Bilal Sarwary shared a video recorded early this Monday (local time) that shows people taking the parking platform at Kabul International Airport
People try to get on planes to escape
The United States and other countries were trying to evacuate their embassy employees, and many terrified Afghans were also trying to leave the capital.
One witness described the airport's departure lounge turning into chaos after people said boarding passes were being secretly printed for celebrities, lawmakers and officials.
"We waited almost eight hours for airport personnel to start coming out of the counters, first the check-in counters and then the immigration and passport counters," he says.
"There was no security check. We passed and saw that the big glass doors were broken. People ran towards the last plane. It was almost a stampede."
The United States sent military helicopters to evacuate its embassy personnel in Kabul.
United States sent military personnel to help evacuate the embassy in Kabul
After several hours of siege on the outskirts of the city, the Taleban ordered their fighters to enter Kabul on Sunday.
According to spokespersons for the group, the measure was taken to prevent chaos and looting after security forces left parts of the capital.
When that happened, hundreds of Kabul residents tried to leave the city with the belongings they could gather.
Many tried to escape Kabul on foot for fear of retaliation from Taliban fighters and uncertainty in the face of a potential wave of violence.
Afghans trying to leave Kabul
Taliban took presidential palace on Sunday
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan
Afghans line up at banks to withdraw savings
escaping from kabul
All Sunday, people lined long lines in front of banks in Kabul to withdraw money, fearful of confiscation of their savings.
Some families arrived at the Hasa-e-Awal Park refugee camp in Kabul on Saturday (8/14), fleeing the fighting outside the capital.
Nooria, 35 (bottom left), left her home in Kunduz after a rocket destroyed it and injured one of her children.
Afghan family displaced by fighting outside Kabul
Women with children seek refuge in a mosque in Kabul
Children camping outside Kabul
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 might happen to their lives under an Islamic Taliban government.
They are concerned about the return of the same type of government that the group established in the 1990s, when it was in power.
Taliban took over the entire Afghan territory this Sunday
Some of those who fled Taleban-controlled areas said the militants demanded that families turn over unmarried girls and women to become the wives of their fighters.
Women from Taleban-controlled areas also described being forced to wear burkas — a garment that covers the entire body, and features a narrow, eye-level screen through which one can see — and militants beat people for violating social rules.
Life under the Taliban in the 1990s forced women to wear the garment. Radical Islamists restricted education to girls over the age of 10 and brutal punishments were imposed, including public executions.
No comments:
Post a Comment