Tiny ray of hope as dark clouds gather
A CRYING baby – thought to be a girl – is handed over barbed wire to soldiers, leaving her desperate parents to pray she gets to build a new life away from the deadly chaos engulfing Afghanistan.
The heartbreaking scene came after countless families braved Taliban beatings to get to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport in the faint hope of being among the lucky ones to escape.
Both British and American personnel are helping the evacuation effort.
One Para told a newspaper: “The mothers were desperate, they were getting beaten by the Taliban. They shouted, ‘Save my baby’ and threw the children at us. Some of the babies fell on the barbed wire. It was awful. By the end of the night, there was not one man among us who was not crying.”
It came amid claims Taliban fighters had killed nine minority Hazara men, set a woman alight for being a bad cook and taken others as “sex slaves”. Three of the men were said to have been tortured.
News of the alleged atrocities leaked out despite the Taliban stealing locals’ phones to stifle the flow of information.
It is believed the Taliban had wanted to keep their violence quiet in order to con locals into feeling safe enough to stay put so they can hunt down those loyal to the previous regime and the Western powers. Yesterday, Amnesty’s secretary general Agnes Callamard said: “The cold-blooded brutality of these killings is a reminder of the Taliban’s past, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring.”
It is not known if the woman who was set alight survived her horrific attack in north-east Afghanistan.
Her ordeal was revealed by Afghan Najla Ayoubi, who fled the Taliban years ago, and now lives in Los Angeles.
She told Sky News: “She was set on fire by the Taliban. And women have been taken as sex slaves.”
Taliban fighters have continued their house-to-house searches for former officials, security men and ex-soldiers.
Sources yesterday said that former security guards were being taken on as “snitches” by the Taliban – allowed to live if they identify former colleagues.
And in Stasi-like patrols, suspects are being rounded up and “disappeared”.
Yesterday, London-educated Ahmad Massoud – son of the legendary Northern Alliance commander of the same name who was murdered by al-Qaeda days before 9/11 – warned of civil war.
Ahmad, who leads a large group of antiTaliban fighters from his mountain retreat in Panjshir said: “It is going to be a bloody and hard war because people of Panjshir are going to fight to the very last breath.”
meeting yesterday, Boris Johnson said he “absolutely” has confidence in his Foreign Secretary.
But Whitehall sources say Raab is unlikely to survive a reshuffle. One insider said the Prime Minister is “livid” with Raab. Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy said Raab’s account “simply doesn’t add up”.
The Labour MP added: “It should have been a priority to speak to the Afghan government and set out the immediate actions necessary to ensure the evacuation of Britons and Afghans.
“Who knows how many more people might have been saved… if the Foreign Secretary had made the call he was advised to. The Foreign Secretary’s statement fails to refute a single fact that has been reported.
“It serves only to confirm his decision to abdicate responsibility and grossly neglect his duties.”
Despite the widespread reports of violence, defence minister James Heappey yesterday claimed that the Taliban is being “officious rather than malicious” in blocking people reaching Kabul airport for evacuation flights.
The former soldier, who served in Afghanistan, added that he is kept “awake at night” by the knowledge the UK will not be able to get everybody out.
He said: “It makes me sick to see the scenes we’re seeing in Afghanistan.”
But Heappey added the Taliban being “part of the peace was always going to be the reality”.
He said 963 people were evacuated from Kabul on the RAF “air bridge” in the past 24 hours.
Nato wants the US to keep troops at the airport past America’s August 31 deadline to ensure people can flee.