At least 17 people were injured during a stampede at a gate into the Kabul airport in Afghanistan as residents attempted to flee following the Taliban takeover, according to a NATO security official.
As masses of Afghan civilians have been attempting to flee the country since the Taliban took the capital on Sunday, residents have been told not to gather around the airport unless they have a passport or travel visa, the official, who was working at the airport, told Reuters.
Wednesday’s stampede adds to the chaotic scenes at the international airport, where people attempted to board planes and gathered on the tarmac on Monday. Several clung to the sides of aircraft and fell to the ground during takeoff. At least seven people died during the airport evacuation chaos, including two armed people shot by U.S. troops.
Dozens of people have attempted to get into the airport, with several people even passing a baby to the front of a crowd outside a gate, a video uploaded to Twitter showed. It is unclear if the gate featured in the video was the same one where the stampede took place.
U.S. military operations to help people leave the country safely are ongoing, a U.S. official confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
FROM PRISON TO POWER: TALIBAN LEADERS GO FROM JAIL, TO NEGOTIATING TABLE, TO KABUL
People are so desperate to escape the #Taliban that they’re passing babies and kids forward to the gate at #Kabul airport. #kabulairport #AfghanEvac pic.twitter.com/6NSlIffrD1
— Matt Zeller (@mattczeller) August 18, 2021
The Taliban also appeared to be detaining civilians in the streets and lined Afghans along residential walls with handcuffs on Wednesday, according to a video circulating on Twitter shared by activist Roh Yakobi. Several militants in the street pointed guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the detained civilians, according to the footage.
Taliban soldiers detaining people in the streets of Kabul. It gets worse by the hour. pic.twitter.com/NdROrkhWYk
— Roh Yakobi (@Roh_Yakobi) August 17, 2021
While there have been no major reports of violent hostility in the capital, many residents have remained at home in fear after the Taliban insurgency resulted in prison breaks and looted armories. Taliban officials reportedly began taking weapons from civilians on Monday.
Residents in the country are also distrusting of the Taliban’s recent promises to grant “amnesty” for all people in the country, and women have also raised concerns for their rights and safety under the militant group’s government, which stripped them of many basic rights when it last governed Afghanistan.
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Officials in President Joe Biden‘s administration said Tuesday that up to 15,000 U.S. residents remain in the country as the military continues to facilitate evacuations for U.S. citizens and some eligible Afghans.
