DESPERATE
» Afghans cram on fleeing US jet » SAS mission to liberate Brits » Women fear Taliban reprisals
PANIC and chaos led to deaths at Kabul airport yesterday as people trying to flee the Taliban crowded runways and clung to planes.
Some were crushed and others who held on to a departing US jet fell hundreds of feet to their deaths.
Eight locals were killed as troops started evacuating thousands of Western officials – 6,000 of them British – and aides from Afghanistan.
A US Air Force C-17 Globemaster carrier plane took off on Sunday with 640 Afghans who had clambered in.
Instead of trying to force people off the aircraft, a US defence official said the “crew made the decision to go”.
The Pentagon said last night all flights in and out had been halted “out of an abundance of caution” and did not know when they would resume.
During horrific scenes after the
Taliban took over the Afghan capital:
Three men died under a plane’s wheels as crowds chased down a flight trying to leave the airport.
Two locals trying to storm a plane were shot dead by US troops brought in to hold back insurgents.
There were claims the Taliban was hunting down ex-officials, politicians, soldiers and ex-government figures in door-to-door searches.
An SAS team was deployed undercover on a hazardous mission to rescue Britons, the Mirror learned.
The Taliban warn hundreds of feared “foreign fighters” were on their way and that Westerners should “leave now”, a source told us.
By last night as many as 900 British troops were protecting Kabul airport, along with 6,000 US soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division.
It means the Ministry of Defence has boosted the original rescue mission with 300 reinforcements – and sources say more are on standby.
The mission includes Border Force staff who will help process and manage those airlifted away by RAF C-17 transport planes. It was mounted from Minhad in the United Arab Emirates and the British base in Cyprus.
Gunfire echoed around Kabul yesterday as the Taliban’s iron grip tightened, despite their claims they would operate an “inclusive” rule.
The Mirror has learned the SAS team was joined by US operatives and two Afghan interpreters who are among those hoping to escape for fear of Taliban reprisals. There are claims of summary killings of former officials, police, soldiers and anyone who worked with the former Kabul government or with coalition forces.
Yesterday, the Mirror can reveal, a British private security team was forced to negotiate their way through a nearby Taliban checkpoint.
A source said: “The Taliban told them ‘you need to leave now because a large number of foreign fighters is heading to Kabul and you don’t want to be here when they arrive. These fighters will not be peaceful’.”
The Taliban guard told them the battle-hardened foreign fighters were travelling from Wardak, 100 miles west of Kabul, and have a reputation as brutal, merciless fighters.
Uzbekistan claimed hundreds of Afghan troops had fled over the border with dozens of aircraft. The haul includes 22 military planes and 24 helicopters.
A total of 585 Afghan soldiers arrived by aircraft and 158 crossed the border on foot. Yesterday it emerged Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab were on holiday as Kabul fell. The Prime Minister was away on Saturday,
thought to be in the South West of England, but he cut short his summer break after a day.
Photographs appeared to show him at Taunton train station on Sunday.
He spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron about how to prevent a humanitarian and refugee crisis and intends to host a virtual meeting of G7 leaders.
Mr Macron later said that the EU would set up an initiative to stop large migrant flows coming from Afghanistan.
The Foreign Secretary returned from abroad on Sunday and was spotted entering the Foreign Office yesterday morning.
Neither No10 nor the Foreign Office denied reports he had been on holiday.
It suggests he and the PM were caught off guard by the speed of the Taliban’s advance. Mr Raab said: “Everyone, I think, has been surprised by the scale and the pace at which the Taliban have taken over. What matters right now is getting British nationals out, getting out those who have so loyally served the UK, and making sure that the gains that we’ve made over 20 years are not lost.”
Tearful Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, an ex-Army officer, admitted: “Some people won’t get back.”
No10 said UK Ambassador Sir Lawrie Bristow was personally helping process visa applications at the airport alongside Home Office staff and a “small number” of UK diplomats.
Ex-national security adviser and civil service chief Sir Mark Sedwill said the fall of Afghanistan was “humiliating” for the West and that “extremists everywhere will be emboldened”. He said: “It’s a very bad day.”
Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, an ex-British Army captain who has called for an inquiry into the West’s withdrawal of troops, slammed the “chaotic exodus”.
Comparing it to the US leaving Vietnam in 1975, he said: “If this is not Saigon 2.0 I don’t know what is.”
He added: “Is this how we thought we’d depart Afghanistan?”
Former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart said the UK should form a coalition to provide routes, funding and safety for “millions of refugees” from Afghanistan.