Gunfire At Kabul Airport Kills One Afghan Solider As Evacuations Continue

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In this Aug. 20, 2021, photo provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Marines and Norweigian coalition forces assist with security at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint ensuring evacuees are processed safely during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/AP

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Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/AP

Asia
Crush At Kabul Airport Kills 7 As Afghans Try To Flee

The Taliban blame the chaotic evacuation on the U.S. military, saying there’s no need for Afghans to fear them, even though their fighters shoot into the air and beat people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport perimeter.

The Taliban have pledged amnesty to those who worked with the U.S., NATO and the toppled Afghan government, but many Afghans still fear revenge attacks. There have been reports in recent days of the Taliban hunting down their former enemies. It’s unclear if Taliban leaders are saying one thing and doing another, or if fighters are taking matters into their own hands.

As the airlift continues, the U.S. government has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, requesting 18 aircraft from U.S. carriers to assist in transporting Afghan refugees after they are evacuated to other countries. The voluntary program, born in the wake of the Berlin airlift, adds to the military’s capabilities during crises.

Early Monday, a Delta Air Lines flight landed in Dubai and later took off for Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where evacuees are crowded into hangars. A steady stream of military transport planes continue to fly people out of Kabul to airfields across the Mideast.

There also have been concerns that a local Islamic State affiliate might target the crowds outside the airport with suicide bombers or fire missiles at U.S. aircraft. Military planes have been executing corkscrew landings, and other aircraft have fired flares upon takeoff, measures used to prevent missile attacks.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban have faced limited armed resistance from fighters in Baghlan province, some120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Kabul. The fighters claimed to have seized three districts in the Andarab Valley on Sunday, but the Taliban said Monday that they had cleared them out overnight.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group’s forces have surrounded nearby Panjshir, the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces yet to fall to the militants.

Several Taliban opponents have gathered there, including Amrullah Saleh, the vice president in the toppled government who claims to be the acting president under the constitution. Ahmad Massoud, son of the slain commander of the Northern Alliance militias that partnered with the U.S. to drive the Taliban from power in 2001, is also in Panjshir.

In interviews with Arab media outlets over the weekend, Massoud said his fighters would resist any attempt to take the province by force but were open to dialogue with the Taliban.

Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said there had been no fighting in Panjshir yet and that his group is seeking a «peaceful solution to the standoff.