Afghans describe mayhem at Kabul airport as Taliban take power

Images of people falling to their deaths from a military cargo plane have shocked the world

Afghan women, holding placards, gather to demand the protection of women's rights in front of the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A person holds the flag of Afghanistan during a protest against support for the Taliban, in Berlin, Germany.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid speaks at his first news conference in Kabul.

Taliban fighters stand guard outside the Green Zone where most of the embassies are situated.

Afghan security forces patrol on humvee vehicle along a road in Bazarak town of Panjshir province.

Schoolgirls sit in a schoolyard in Herat.

Afghans wait outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country.

A Taliban fighter raises their flag on a vehicle as they patrol in Kandahar.

French citizens and their Afghan colleagues wait to board a French military transport plane at the airport in Kabul after the Taliban's stunning military takeover of the Afghanistan.

French soldiers at the airport in Kabul as they arrive to help French citizens and their Afghan colleagues to flee after the Taliban takeover.

A US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft filled with about 640 Afghans fleeing to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Crowds on the tarmac of Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan. Several people were reportedly killed at the airport on August 16 as Afghans tried to hang on to a moving US military plane leaving the airport.

A satellite photo shows swarms of people on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport, also known as Hamid Karzai International Airport. Afghans rushed on to the tarmac of the capital's airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed.

A traffic jam outside Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan after Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar declared victory and an end to the decades-long war in the country. President Ashraf Ghani fled and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war.

Qari Muhammad Hanif, centre, director of the Taliban's cultural and Information department, talks to journalists in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Humvee vehicles from the Afghan Security Forces in Panjshir province, Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghans rushed to Hamid Karzai International Airport in an attempt to flee the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Afghans on the tarmac at Kabul airport in Kabul after a swift end to the 20-year war in the country. Thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's rule.

A US soldier keeps close watch on Afghan passengers at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul. Thousands of people packed the airport trying to flee Taliban rule.

Passengers sit inside a plane as they wait to leave the runway of Kabul after the stunningly swift end of Afghanistan’s 20-year war.

People climb on top of a plane in Kabul.

People try to enter Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

People cross the boundary wall of Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country after rumours that foreign countries were removing people even without visas.

Taliban fighters stand guard along a roadside near Zanbaq Square in Kabul.

A Taliban fighter sits on his motorcycle by a road in Shahr-e Naw, Kabul.

Talibs patrol the streets of Kabul as the militants take control of Afghanistan. after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Afghans gather on the asphalt at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul.

Afghans gather by the runway in Kabul as US soldiers stand guard.

Taliban fighters on a police vehicle outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Baradar Akhund, a senior official of the Taliban, with a group of men, makes a video statement.

Taliban fighters take control of the presidential palace in Kabul, after Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Passengers from Kabul arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India.

Families on a motorway trying to flee Kabul.

Afghan security forces on patrol in Kabul.

People line up outside Azizi Bank to withdraw cash during a run on deposits.

Taliban fighters use a captured Afghan security forces vehicle at a checkpoint in Herat.

Ahmadullah Muttaqi, centre left, the Taliban's director for information and culture, addresses journalists.

Police officers conduct their duties after the Taliban took control of Kandahar.

People prepare to cross into Afghanistan, at Pakistan's Chaman border. Pakistani authorities reopened the border with Afghanistan on August 13 after it had been closed for several days.

Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas at the Iranian embassy, in Kabul.

Taliban fighters patrol after taking control of Jalalabad.

Smoke rises near the US embassy in Kabul. Taliban fighters reached the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Sunday.

Anti-missile decoy flares are used by US Black Hawk military helicopters, while a surveillance blimp flies over Kabul.

An Afghan soldier keeps watch on a street in Kabul.

Taliban fighters and local people gather in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul.

Taliban fighters sit on an Afghan Army Humvee in Jalalabad province.

Taliban fighters travel along a street in Jalalabad province.

A US Chinook military helicopter flies over the US embassy in Kabul.

Heavily armed Taliban fighters gather in eastern Laghman province.

Militants wave a Taliban flag from the back of a pickup truck in Jalalabad.

Taliban fighters drive through the streets of Laghman province.

People head to the departures area of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as the Taliban approach the city.

A man sells Taliban flags in western province Herat.

Taliban fighters travel in an Afghan Army vehicle in Herat.

Taliban forces patrol a street in Herat.

Taliban militants raise their flag as they gather a day after taking control of key southern city Kandahar.

Members of the Afghan security forces stand guard along the roadside in Panjshir province.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and acting defence minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi visit a military site in Kabul.

Internally displaced families from northern provinces take shelter in a public park in Kabul.

Families that fled their homes because of fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces take shelter in a public park in Kabul.

Many of those seeking safety in Kabul have been sleeping on the streets.

Thousands of those internally displaced have been arriving in Kabul.

Afghans have been waiting for hours in long queues outside the passport office in Kabul, with many people desperate to leave the country.

Thousands of Afghans continued to flock to Kabul's airport on Monday, as foreign diplomats and security forces left a city overrun by the Taliban.

Videos and images shown to The National by witnesses displayed scenes of chaos and suffering at a once well-run international airport. Eyewitnesses told The National that late on Monday afternoon Taliban forces gathered near one side of the airport and shot at least two people trying to scale a wall, also injuring several others in an attempt to disburse a large crowd.

There was no update on their condition but videos seen by The National showed blood stains on the ground in the area.

One of the clips sent on Sunday night shows an abandoned immigration centre with no sign of any security.

Crowds of Afghan men, women and children can be seen in and around the Karzai International Airport and even on the tarmac, where planes remain parked, many of them grounded to make way for military cargo planes.

One of the Afghans present at the airport through the night described the scene.

“There is a lot of confusion and I would say there are tens of thousands of Afghans hoping to get on one of the planes,” they said.

“I was told that the Americans might take some of us who worked with them so I came to the airport. But they are not taking anyone.”

In other shocking videos shown to The National, hundreds of people chase a military plane taking off with foreign diplomats and staff on board.

“Many Afghans clung on to the wheels and engine, basically anything they could, with the hopes of getting away. These are people who have never travelled on a plane and don’t know that it is dangerous to do that,” the witness said.

Those clinging to the plane are seen falling off as the aircraft takes off. In another video, a man can be seen falling off a plane that has gained significant altitude.

Taliban on the streets

In the city, Taliban militants have been seen patrolling the streets in what were formerly Afghan security vehicles. Residents say there is a sense of dread and fear that the extremist group will pursue those who worked with civil society, political parties or the government, one of the reasons for the attempted mass departure.

“We are a group of four government officials. We fought for democracy, freedom of speech and women’s rights in this country,” said Mohammad Rahim, another Afghan who spent the night at the airport.

“We spoke against everything the Taliban stands for. We know that they will not leave us alive, so we had to try to escape.”

At the airport, Mr Rahim said, all security forces had been withdrawn.

“There weren’t any security checks. Before Kabul fell, there used to be six or seven security checks to get to the airport,” he said.

“I saw a woman who lost her baby in the crowd and she was frantic. Pregnant women were trying to get help. I saw a man in the plane who lost his wife and couldn’t locate her. The airport looked like a wild battleground.

“We got into a big line to get on a flight and after a couple of hours of waiting, we finally got into the plane.”

However, the plane Mr Rahim boarded was parked up and was not scheduled to fly.

“That plane could carry maybe 200 people, but had more than 500,” he said.

“Some high-ranking officials including one of the vice presidents were also on it. We had essentially invaded an empty plane, and were there for four hours. We knew there was no way the plane would take off anywhere. But we had hoped against hope that maybe we could get out.

“Unfortunately it didn’t work and we had to leave the airport and go undercover.”

Mr Rahim and his friends are now in hiding and are not sure how long they can keep running.

He said the Taliban were going door-to-door in search of Afghans who worked in media, civil society, politics and with foreigners.

This was confirmed by another source with The National. “Unfortunately, today, they came to me, but they did not enter the house. They asked a few questions and were taking notes,” the former government official said.

“They were told by my enemies where I live and they had come to find me. But luckily I wasn’t home. I am in hiding.

“But I don’t know for how long. They will catch up to me. I can only seek refuge in God now.”

Mr Rahim echoed the sense of despair.

“I never thought I would be on the run for my life and leave my own family behind. I am in shock and can’t even express what I witnessed. Kabul has turned into a ghost city,” he said.