Gunfire, smoke grenades & barbed wire: WATCH Taliban & US troops battle to ‘shield’ Kabul airport from determined crowds

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Tensions are working excessive across the Kabul airport as US troopers oversee a hasty evacuation following a Taliban takeover of the Afghan capital, with crowds of civilians determined to flee the nation seen pleading for assist.

With 1000’s of Afghans nonetheless camped across the airfield hoping to catch a flight out of the town, chaotic scenes have been captured in movies circulating on-line early on Thursday morning, native time, some purporting to indicate Taliban fighters firing smoke and stun grenades to disperse crowds gathered a brief distance exterior the airport.

Whereas NBC’s Richard Engel, who’s reporting from Kabul, earlier stated that the the US-secured “navy aspect” of the airport had develop into extra orderly and that evacuation flights have been “choosing up,” ABC journalist Ian Pannell famous that the scenario was a lot totally different on the “civilian aspect” managed by the Taliban, including that militants are “wild” and “dangerously firing and beating civilians.”

“These are the 2 realities of what’s actually taking place right here,” Pannell noticed.

Additionally reporting from the Afghan capital, CNN’s Clarissa Ward stated Taliban fighters on safety element have been firing reside rounds into the air to disperse crowds, however have been “not concentrating on individuals.” Gun fireplace might be heard popping off within the distance at one level throughout her broadcast close to the Kabul airport. 

A Taliban official additionally informed Reuters that photographs have been fired into the air for crowd dispersal, including “Now we have no intention to injure anybody.”

Footage of the airport’s north gate and different areas guarded by American troopers additionally made the rounds, with one clip displaying anguished Afghans begging the GIs for assist by way of a barbed-wire barrier.

A CBS correspondent stated the video additionally confirmed “People making an attempt to entry the airport,” later including that they “did get inside,” though the nationalities of these seen within the clip couldn’t be confirmed.

Different scenes exterior the airstrip purported to indicate Afghans making an attempt handy younger youngsters over a safety fence in a last-ditch effort to get them overseas, whereas American troops have been additionally seen hoisting a lady over a concrete barricade, the place an enormous crowd had gathered.

The US 82nd Airborne Division has reportedly carried out patrols alongside the airport’s tarmac, the place “1000’s” of civilians remained camped out, in keeping with journalist Alex Tiffin, who gathered a considerable amount of footage.

Earlier within the day, US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that American forces wouldn’t be despatched to assemble stranded People unable to succeed in the Kabul airport, arguing he didn’t wish to “distract” from securing the airfield whereas acknowledging that “We do not have the aptitude to exit and acquire a lot of individuals.”

Austin’s feedback got here after the US Embassy in Afghanistan warned Americans that Washington “can not guarantee protected passage” to the airport, largely leaving them to navigate a sprawling community of Taliban checkpoints on their very own.

READ MORE: ‘First come, first serve’: People warned of restricted flights out of Kabul, US embassy ‘can not guarantee protected passage’ to airport

Round 15,000 People stay caught in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized the capital final Sunday, in keeping with the Related Press. The militant group swept all of Afghanistan’s main cities within the week prior, leaving solely a single province standing – Panjshir, traditionally a stronghold for anti-Taliban forces.

British officers have reportedly voiced issues that the US would quickly take away 6,000 or so troops despatched to protect the airstrip, saying the evacuation of UK employees couldn’t proceed with out their presence. Nevertheless, US President Joe Biden informed ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that each effort could be made to drag out all Americans and US allies from the nation, even when that meant staying past his August 31 withdrawal deadline. 

Whereas Taliban representatives have vowed to provide amnesty to Afghans who collaborated with the US-backed regime in Kabul and chorus from hanging American forces as they make their exit, the group has additionally steered it might renew assaults on Western troops ought to they continue to be within the nation past Biden’s unique September 11 pullout date.

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