Kabul residents scrambled to board evacuation planes at an airport on Monday, with the panic resulting in the death of at least five people, and many fearing for their lives as the Taliban continue to advance in Afghanistan.
Reports and statements from witnesses said that hundreds of people rushed out of the country as the Taliban went on its way to invade the country's capital city on Sunday. As the number of people at the airport surges, authorities have opted to suspend all commercial flights going from the vicinity.
Panic and Chaos at the Airport
On Monday, a United States official revealed that American soldiers, who were the ones controlling the airport, fired their guns into the air to disperse the large crowds. It was also unclear whether the deaths at the airport were the result of gunshots or stampedes.
One official said that the crowd of people was going out of control amid their panic to board the planes and evacuate the country. When asked, the Department of Defense did not immediately answer and provide comments on the incident, Business Insider reported.
Many took to social media to post their experiences in the evacuation and the horrific times that residents had to go through. One video showed people clinging onto a moving U.S. army plane as the aircraft tried to taxi towards the runway and take off.
The residents flooded the airport as the Taliban advanced to the country's capital city with a population of nearly five million people. The militant group's attack was conducted in just over a week to dethrone the Western government.
While there have been no major reports of abuses or fighting, many residents feared for their lives and stayed at home. In a statement, United States President Joe Biden said he stood by his decision to pull out American troops from the region. The Democrat said he was torn between two decisions, committing to the withdrawal, or risking the third decade of war in the country, Yahoo News reported.
"I've learned the hard way, there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. This did unfold more quickly than we anticipated," Biden said from the White House.
Advance into Afghanistan
The military at the airport also used helicopters to clear the runway in the military section of the area. It was later revealed that troops fatally shot two armed men who tried to approach American soldiers at the airport security perimeter and showed off their firearms.
Taliban leaders established themselves in the palace in Kabul just hours after President Ashraf Ghani evacuated the country. The militant group has taken over what was once one of the most secure locations in Afghanistan and which was a symbol of the nation that the U.S. spent so many resources and lives to defend.
In one video recording, the head of the Afghan presidential security guard shook hands with a Taliban commander in one of the palace buildings. The personnel said he escorted the militant group personnel at the request of the senior Afghan government negotiator, the New York Times reported.
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