As Kabul trembles, Taliban block airport
Islamist fighters display firearms, parade in US-made armored trucks as chaos continues with exit of American troops
KABUL/WASHINGTON—Armed Taliban members kept people from reaching Kabul’s airport on Wednesday as thousands sought to leave for fear of harsh rules under the group’s leadership. As the panic continued, President Joe Biden said US forces would remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past the Aug. 31 US deadline for complete with- drawal.
KABUL/WASHINGTON— Armed members of the Taliban kept people desperate to flee Afghanistan from reaching Kabul’s airport on Wednesday, witnesses said, while President Joe Biden vowed to keep US troops in the country until all Americans are evacuated.
A total of 12 people have been killed in and around the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul since the Taliban seized the city on Sunday, Taliban and Nato officials said.
The deaths were caused either by gun shots or in stampedes, the Taliban official said on Thursday, and he urged people still crowded at the gates of the facility to go home if they did not have the legal right to travel.
Since the Taliban entered Kabul over the weekend, scenes of chaos have unfolded as thousands seek to leave, fearing a return to the austere interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago.
As the airlift of Western citizens and Afghans who worked for foreign governments sought to ramp up, Biden said US forces would remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past the Aug. 31 US deadline for complete withdrawal.
Asked in an interview with ABC News if the exit of US troops could have been handled better, Biden said: “No . ... The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens.”
Focus on airfield
The 4,500 US troops in Kabul cannot help bring people to the airport for evacuation because they are focused on securing the airfield, US defense secretary Lloyd Austin said, acknowledging that evacuations had not reached targets.
About 5,000 diplomats, security staff, aid workers and Afghans have been evacuated from Kabul in the past 24 hours and military flights will continue around the clock, a Western official told Reuters.
As this developed, videos of Taliban fighters parading in USmade armored vehicles, wielding US-supplied firearms and climbing on American Black Hawk helicopters after the defeat of Afghan government forces have embarrassed the White House.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday that the department is looking at the issue.
“We obviously don’t want to see our equipment in the hands of those who would act against our interests, or the interests of the Afghan people,” Kirby told reporters.
“There are numerous policy choices that can be made, up to and including destruction,” he said, without giving specifics.
The Islamist insurgents, who easily captured control of the country after a monthslong campaign, seized huge amounts of weaponry, equipment and munitions from the Afghan armed forces, most of it supplied over the past two decades by Washington.
Rifles, Humvees
Social media showed Taliban fighters carrying M4 and M18 assault rifles and M24 sniper weapons, driving around in the iconic US Humvees and, in one video, apparently wearing US-style special forces tactical uniforms.
Most of the equipment has been seized from the Afghan forces who, despite two decades of training and tens of billions of dollars from the United States, conceded the capital Kabul at the weekend without a fight.
According to official figures, the US military supplied the Afghan army with more than 7,000 machine guns, 4,700 Humvees and 20,000 grenades in recent years.
The Afghans have also received artillery and reconnaissance drones from Washington, as well as more than 200 aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters.
Their continued operation depended heavily on US technical support and parts, however.
According to photographs published Wednesday by Janes, the defense specialists, some 40 Afghan military aircraft were flown into Uzbekistan over the past week to escape the Taliban advance, including five UH-60 Black Hawk and 16 Russia Mi-17 helicopters and 10 A-29 Super Tucano attack airplanes.
But hardware supplied to the Afghan forces that is now in Taliban hands has raised concerns.
The captured arms and vehicles only expand the Taliban’s powers in limited ways, experts say.