SAVE MY CHILD
MOMENT A DESPERATE MOTHER HANDS HER TINY DAUGHTER TO SOLDIERS IN KABUL
A DESPERATE mother hands her infant daughter to an American soldier – begging him to save her from a terrifying future as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan.
As militants wielded whips and fired shots to keep crowds back at Kabul airport, other mums threw their babies over razor wire in the hope they would be put on a military flight out.
But 7,000 miles away in Washington, Joe Biden washed his hands of responsibility for the chaos – despite deciding to withdraw all US forces by August 31.
Instead the president blamed the Afghan army, even though it lost 66,000 fighters in the war. Answering
reporters’ questions for the first time since a heavily criticised address on Tuesday, he said he was misled about the likely speed of the Taliban takeover.
And he denied military chiefs had advised him to keep 2,500 troops in the country, despite his press aide confirming it in April.
‘There was no consensus if you go back and look at intelligence reports,’ he said. ‘They said that it’s more likely to be sometime by the end of the year.’
At least 12 people have died at the airport since Monday. One was named yesterday as national youth team footballer Zaki Anwari, 19 – crushed as he stowed away in the undercarriage of a C-17 transport jet. Two more teens fell to their deaths moments later after clinging on as it took off.
But the 78-year-old US president snapped: ‘That was four days ago, five days ago. The idea that somehow there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,’ he told ABC news.
Another victim that day was Marzia Rahmati, 14 – trampled as the crowd fled gunfire.
‘We want people to see what is really happening here now,’ her aunt Zakia Ahmadi, 28, said yesterday. ‘A little girl is dead because the world turned away from us.’
UK troops trying to help fly people out from the airport yesterday described heartbreaking scenes as the Taliban – at a barricade close by – kept crowds at bay.
A senior officer told Sky News: ‘It was terrible. Women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking soldiers to take them. Some got caught in the wire. I’m worried for my men. I’m counselling some – everyone cried last night.’
Defence secretary Ben Wallace insisted: ‘We can’t just take a minor on their own.’
A two-year-old girl was seen by Sky News after being found alone in the airport yesterday.
‘Someone handed the baby, along with her American passport, over the razor wire,’ the station reported. ‘This little girl was born in Illinois. There are no American consulate or military staff here.’
Eight RAF flights were due to leave Kabul yesterday and the Pentagon said 18 US flights were scheduled. But UK citizens are also struggling to reach planes because of the chaos.
Ex-Royal Marine Paul Farthing said: ‘Two expats – one British, one Norwegian – have already been forced to turn back this morning.’ At least 10,000 Americans remain in the country. Mr Biden (inset) admitted surprise that the Taliban are still co-operating and hinted some US troops may now stay after August 31. ‘If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out,’ he
insisted.