Maria Laura Avignolo
08/17/2021 12:09
Clarín.com
World
Updated 08/17/2021 12:09
As Kabul airport stabilized from chaos on Tuesday, an image synthesized the fear of the Taliban and the abandonment of the Afghans, following their swift victory and their arrival in the capital: a photograph, taken from inside
a US military flight
, from Kabul.
The
C-17 Globemaster,
with callsign Reach 871, was carrying about 640 Afghans, reportedly
more than five times its
suggested
payload
, after hundreds of desperate people flooded the plane on Monday.
The plane
landed in Qatar
two hours later.
The aircraft in the photo
belongs to the 436th Air Wing,
which is based at Dover Air Force Base, in the US state of Delaware.
A Defense official told Defense One, an agency that has photo credit, that the large load
had not been planned
.
But the terrified Afghans, who had been allowed to leave, had climbed onto
the
plane's
semi
-
open ramp
.
The situation had become
uncontrollable
for the crew and it was the captain who
decided to take off
under these conditions.
Rather than force them down, "the crew made the decision to leave," the official said.
He added that while initial reports indicated that the plane was carrying around 800 people, it was later confirmed that about
640 was the actual number.
They were among thousands of people who arrived at Kabul airport on Monday, desperate to get out of Afghanistan, after the Taliban took over Kabul over the weekend.
According to US defense officials, the plane took off from Kabul International Airport amid the chaos on Monday.
It is believed to be
the largest number of people
ever to fly the C-17.
A military cargo plane, which has been used by the United States and its allies for
nearly 30 years.
Some clung to another plane while taxiing, and video footage showed at least two people
falling from the plane during takeoff
.
Other planes were invaded and took off with the Afghans sitting on the ground.
The Pentagon stopped traffic
But it was not the only one.
Hundreds of Afghans occupied other civilian charters, who climbed the emergency flight ladder at Kabul airport and sat on the floor of the plane.
The Afghans had climbed the bomb wall, which surrounds the airport and entered the runway,
where the planes were taxiing
.
They crossed in front of the military planes, without stopping them taking off.
They were afraid of being abandoned.
Many had been accepted onto the list of Westerners to leave but trust had been broken in those hours of chaos.
The urgency was to flee Kabul
, so that the Taliban did not retaliate.
They believed they were going to be left ashore.
The image of the despair of a people abandoned to their fate went around the world.
Many planes stopped
when the runway was flooded with people.
Others kept walking as the Afghans
hung from the wings
and climbed over the turbines.
Two of them fell from the air
when another plane took off.
They looked like two black dots in the sky.
After that horror,
the Pentagon decided to cancel
military and commercial flights until they could vacate the runway.
The chaos was such that
the Taliban arrived at the airport to put order
.
There was an exchange of fire and two American soldiers killed two Taliban, who were firing at the airport gates to let people in.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter that the group's fighters had strict orders not to harm anyone.
"No one's life, property and honor will be harmed, but must be protected by the mujahideen," he wrote.
British evacuees, return
The situation at Kabul airport is "stabilizing," British Foreign Minister Dominique Raab said, as crowds try to flee Afghanistan.
Under a shower of criticism, diplomats and officials from the British embassy in Afghanistan, who arrived at the Brize Norton base in Britain,
were forwarded to Kabul
to deal with people to evacuate.
A reaction to the anger of British society, to the abandonment suffered by Afghans, who have helped their military forces in the war and who must be saved.
The British military were the first to criticize this flight and the inhumane gesture of not picking up 1,500 Afghans who had assisted them in their mission, whether as employees, translators or contractors.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who took a holiday on Saturday before the fall of Kabul, is preparing to announce a resettlement plan for Afghans
"most in need"
after the Taliban seized power.
Paris, correspondent
ap
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