16 August 2021. France24/The Observers: The arrival of the Taliban in the Afghan capital Kabul on August 15 has prompted a mad rush to the airport as residents attempt to leave the country on the last available planes. Videos on social networks show chaotic scenes on the tarmac as Afghans attempted to leave the city by any means necessary, some even clinging onto an American military plane. At least five people have died.
People scaling airplane ramps and running after planes on the runway: desperate Afghans trying to leave the country in face of Taliban rule filmed videos of the chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 15 and 16, 2021.
By the evening of August 15, hours after the Taliban surrounded Kabul, dense crowds had already descended upon the airport, as seen in this video posted on Twitter:
People continued rushing into the airport until the next day. High-resolution satellite images published by Maxar show the extent of the crowds at the airport the next morning.
New high-res #satellite imagery (10:36 am local time, August 16) of the chaotic scene underway at #Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in #Afghanistan as thousands of people converged on the tarmac & airport runways as countries attempt to evacuate personnel from the city. pic.twitter.com/L6lhlVms54
— Maxar Technologies (@Maxar) August 16, 2021
‘What I saw was a real mess’
Masoud (not his real name) went to the airport with his family the morning of August 16. He told the FRANCE 24 Observers team about the general confusion and chaos that reigned at the airport.
“What I saw was a real mess. There were about 10,000 people on the tarmac, and maybe as many as 10,000 others near the airport behind a cordon of Taliban forces who are encircling the airport.
I saw an American military airplane circling for about 30 minutes in the air. It was unable to land because there were people on the tarmac. It’s as if the airport runway was being blocked by a human shield.”
Latest pictures from Kabul Airport. People are on their own now while the world watches in silence. Only sane advise to Afghan people…RUN pic.twitter.com/RQGw28jFYx
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) August 16, 2021
‘People are ready to risk their lives to get out of here’
Afghan aviation officials told people on Monday not to come to the airport, but they continued to convene throughout the day. By mid-day, all commercial flights coming from Kabul were cancelled.
In an act of desperation, people began to climb onto C-17 US military planes that were about to take off. A video shared widely on social media shows a crowd running alongside a plane, while some are seated on the plane’s landing gear flap.
هرج و مرج در #کابل؛
لحظهی پرواز هواپیمای نظامی آمریکاییها از میدان هوایی کابل.#Afghanistan #Kabul #KabulHasFallen pic.twitter.com/3OF8S8Dmf2— Mukhtar wafayee (@Mukhtarwafayee) August 16, 2021
Another video, filmed from the tarmac just after a US C-17 plane took off, shows two people who had reportedly clung onto the plane, falling hundreds of metres to the ground.
Another video from a different angle shows two people falling apparently from the same C-17 as it leaves the perimeter of the airport. It was impossible to verify whether the two videos show the same people falling.
US army controls airport
Videos show the US army attempting to maintain order. A US army official said that troops had fired warning shots into the air in order to prevent people trying to force themselves into a military flight evacuating embassy staff.
A Pentagon official told AFP that American soldiers had killed two men who were armed and brandishing their weapons.
Later on Monday, the US halted all evacuation flights, waiting to clear people who had gathered on the airfield. A US military plane circled above the airport, unable to land on the tarmac, which was full of people.
Additional US forces have been deployed to the airport to provide security and maintain control.
The Afghan aviation authority warned airlines to avoid Afghan airspace late Monday, saying that the airspace had been “released to the military”.
