AFGHANISTAN ABANDONED: 8-PAGE SPECIAL
DRAMATIC REPORTS AND ANALYSIS STARTS ON PAGE 8
FOR thousands upon thousands, the litter-strewn road outside Kabul airport will be forever synonymous with dashed hopes of freedom.
But for once, the masses turned away were the lucky ones. Because for some, it was here on this dusty road yesterday that their lives ended, crushed beneath the feet of stampeding families who, like them, were desperately seeking a way out of their benighted country. At least four women are thought to have died in what witnesses called a ‘horrendous crush’.
Each day brings ever more pitiful scenes in Afghanistan: men clinging to and falling from moving planes, mothers pressing their babies into the arms of soldiers. Yet nothing so unbearable as yesterday.
Beneath a fierce late-morning sun, crowds parted to reveal women’s lifeless bodies and then, rising above the chaotic hubbub, the piercing screams of their children. Precious few, if any, of the wretched souls who descended on the airport qualified for evacuation. But they were in a race against time, spurred into one futile final act by warnings from London and Washington that the clock was ticking, that the mercy flights out of Kabul would soon cease.
Some Afghans had planned to try their luck today or tomorrow. Suddenly nobody was prepared to wait. The deadline brought their haphazard plans forward, triggering an overwhelming scramble.
Two shipping containers blocked the road alongside the airport, funnelling people into narrow gaps either side in a vain attempt to ensure some kind of order.
Instead, it produced only more chaos. Scarcely a minute passed
‘Human rights and dignity have been buried here’
without a cry for medical help or a hopeless plea for a stretcher. British Paratroopers did all that was humanly possible, pulling the most badly hurt to safety, cradling gasping children, administering first aid and dousing those collapsing with dehydration with water from a hose.
‘It was pretty impressive stuff,’ said Sky News reporter Stuart Ramsay at the scene. ‘They were yanking people out as soon as they could… that was on the British side, further up the road. On the American side, people were just penned in, they had been there all day with no shade whatsoever and a limited amount of water.’
Elsewhere at the airport, a Taliban militant hit an old man with his rifle butt to stop him pushing on a gate. Nearby women were beaten with sticks. A man who gave his name as Abdullah told The Mail on Sunday: ‘All human rights and dignity have been buried here. No one behaves like human beings.
‘The foreigners have created this situation, they cannot manage this situation and this is their last attempt to humiliate us.’
It is thought about 3,500 British nationals and Afghan locals are awaiting evacuation.
Latest reports show that 3,821 people have been airlifted out. In Kabul itself, food is running out and prices are rising fast.
Former Royal Marine Pen Farthing, who founded an animal welfare charity in Kabul, said: ‘I can’t draw out any money – the banks are running out. I can’t pay my staff salaries, nobody can buy food. This is just turning into a disaster upon a disaster. The humanitarian crisis here is getting out of control.’
He added: ‘I’m past angry, I’m past everything. I’m just completely numb at the incompetence of this operation.’ Gul Ali, 55, clutching a British passport, had camped outside the airport for six days. He has lived in Britain for six years, and only went back to Kabul to visit relatives. Now he is stranded.
He said: ‘I cannot get out. Nobody gives me permission. It’s like doomsday, what is going on? What are these security men doing, it’s an uncontrolled situation, it’s uncertain, the US and UK forces are unable to manage the situation.’
Joy and hope were scarce but an interpreter called Waheed, who had worked with British forces, was one of the few who made it through the airport. Waheed, with his wife
and children, spoke of his relief that he was finally UK-bound, saying: ‘It’s a very happy day in my life.’
Describing the crush outside the airport, he added: ‘It was very scary… like a zombie land.’
Only a small number of British embassy staff remain in Kabul, led by ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow, who has won plaudits for staying to help process visas.
He said the evacuation effort was ‘without a doubt’ the greatest challenge of his 30-year career. Speaking for the first time since the
‘The scene was very scary, like a zombie land’
Taliban takeover, Sir Laurie said: ‘The scale of this effort is enormous. Lives are at stake and I am incredibly proud of the tenacious efforts of my team during these challenging times, with military and civilian staff working together to successfully evacuate thousands of people in the last week.
‘We will continue to work tirelessly to get British nationals, Afghan staff and others at risk out of the country as quickly as possible as we also support Afghanistan’s long-term future.’