On Monday, the eyes of the world were on striking images. Those of thousands of Afghans, ready to take all the risks to flee a country whose fate has changed in just a few weeks. This real chaos ended at Kabul airport. But the situation remains dramatic. Thousands of Afghans are still trapped there, between Taliban checkpoints and a barbed wire fence put up by the US military. They are desperately trying to climb aboard any departing plane to flee the reestablishment of a fundamentalist regime in their country. They are even more numerous to besiege foreign embassies in the Afghan capital, according to the rumors about the availability of visas or at least of passes to reach the airport.
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Unconfirmed information is circulating on social networks reporting several people killed at the airport as, on either side of a de facto no-go zone, US and Taliban forces are struggling to contain the crowds.
“Yesterday (Tuesday) I went to the airport with my children and my family,” explains a man who until recently worked for a foreign NGO.
"The Taliban and the Americans were shooting at people but, despite this, they kept moving forward because they knew a situation worse than death awaited them outside."
Families try to enter the airport.
In the background, the crowd surrounds a man with gunshot wounds.
Courtesy Mirwais Khan Amiri / via REUTERS
Scenes of chaos follow one another at the airport since the Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday, without fighting, after a lightning offensive that crowned twenty years of insurgency.
Distressing footage showed people attempting at all costs to board an departing flight, some climbing onto a US military Hercules plane that was taxiing down the runway for take-off.
Some semblance of order has since been restored but thousands of people remain trapped between the Taliban and the Americans, clinging to the seemingly unrealistic hope of being able to enter the airport and be evacuated.
Blocked in front of the entrance
Many do have visas for abroad and claim to have been promised an evacuation. But they just can't get in. “I spoke with my friend who is there. He has a letter from the Spaniards assuring that he can leave with them, but when he tries to reach the door he is threatened to shoot him, ”said a man who asked to remain anonymous. “The Spaniards told him that if he could get in he would be fine, but he couldn't. "
The Taliban have provided escorts to some foreign embassies to accompany their nationals as well as Afghans and these are admitted inside by the Americans. The drive to the airport itself can take several hours for a few miles and be heartbreaking. “There were people knocking on the windows of the bus and trying to get in,” said a woman who was able to spend Wednesday. "The Taliban who were with us fired in the air to drive them away."
Despair also hovers Thursday near the area where embassies are located.
Thousands of people are screaming for the attention of anyone still in these now largely deserted buildings.
"I was told that if I write my name, my contact details and my phone number on a piece of paper at the French Embassy, they will take me," said a man.
People waiting outside the walls of the French embassy in Kabul, August 18, 2021. AFP / WAKIL KOHSAR
Hundreds of people sitting on the sidewalks begging for a piece of paper or a pen. Washington accused the Taliban on Wednesday of breaking their promises by allowing foreigners to leave the country but not Afghans. "We have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and commitments to our government, are preventing Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport" in Kabul, said Wendy. Sherman, number two in American diplomacy. "We expect them to allow all US citizens, third country nationals and Afghans to leave if they wish, in a safe manner and without harassment," Sherman added.