The chaos at Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans desperately try to board a plane to flee the country, caused its first deaths on Saturday, August 21, as the Taliban leadership met to define the contours of an "
inclusive
" government.
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Images shot by Sky News show the bodies of at least three people, presumably crushed by the crowd pressing against the airport gates, caught between US soldiers on one side and Islamist fighters on the other. People in front of the crowd were "
crushed
" and medics rushed from one injured to another, said Stuart Ramsay, a reporter for this British news channel who was at the airport. The images also show many injured.
On Saturday, the roads leading to Kabul airport continued to be congested.
Thousands of families still gathered in front of the airfield, hoping to miraculously board a plane.
In front of them, American soldiers and an Afghan special forces brigade were on the lookout to dissuade them from invading the premises.
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Behind them, the Taliban, now accused of tracking down Afghans who worked for NATO to arrest them and restricting access to the airport they wish to leave at all costs, observed the scene.
"
Potential threats
"
On Saturday, the American embassy in Kabul called on its nationals to avoid approaching the airport because of "
potential security threats
". "
We advise US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and avoiding the airport gates at this time, unless you receive individual instructions from a US government official to do so.
" , details the bulletin published on the website of the embassy. The nature of these threats has not been specified, but a White House official said Joe Biden had discussed Saturday morning with senior officials in his government "
about the security situation in Afghanistan and counterterrorism operations. ,including IS
», The Islamic State group.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to elaborate on the nature of the danger: "
I will not go into detail on our threat assessment, or what intelligence services say
," he said during a press conference, specifying that the situation in the city was very "
fluctuating
" and that the risks could evolve "
from one hour to another
".
"
We continue to have regular communications with the Taliban leaders in Kabul, especially those in charge of the crossing points at the airport,
" he said.
Read alsoHave Americans spent more than $ 1 trillion in Afghanistan?
For the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, it will be
"impossible"
to evacuate all the Afghan collaborators of the Western powers before August 31. The American administration has set for that date the final withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, and hopes to evacuate by then all the Americans (between 10,000 and 15,000 people), and to do the same for their Afghan allies and their families (between 50,000 and 65,000 people). "
We are fighting against both time and space,
" Pentagon spokesman John Kirby admitted on Saturday. Since August 14, some 17,000 people have been evacuated by the United States, including 2,500 Americans. Thousands more have been exfiltrated aboard foreign military planes.
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Seemingly underlining the concern in Washington, Joe Biden canceled at the last minute on Saturday morning his trip for the weekend to his Delaware residence - even though the news of a hurricane arriving in the North on Sunday. -East United States was also able to play into its decision to ultimately stay in the White House.
Joe Biden's predecessor in the White House, Donald Trump, under whose authority the United States has pledged to withdraw all of its troops, on Saturday denounced the "
gross incompetence
" of the president, who he said was guilty of a "
botched withdrawal
".
At the same time, he praised the Taliban described as "
great negotiators, tough fighters
".
“
It shouldn't have happened.
All he had to do was leave the soldiers there until everything was out - our citizens, our weapons - and then you bomb the bases,
”he said. a rally in Alabama.
An “
inclusive
” government according to the Taliban
While the evacuations continue, the co-founder and number two of the Taliban, Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday after spending two days in Kandahar, the cradle of the movement.
This mullah, who until then headed the political bureau of the Taliban in Qatar, will "
meet jihadist leaders and political leaders for the establishment of an inclusive government
," a senior Taliban official told AFP.
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Other leaders of the movement have been spotted in the Afghan capital in recent days, including Khalil Haqqani, one of the world's most wanted terrorists by the United States, who has pledged a $ 5 million reward for information. allowing its capture.
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Pro-Taliban social networks have shown Khalil Haqqani meeting Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, considered one of the country's most cruel warlords for having notably bombed Kabul during the civil war (1992-96).
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, nicknamed "
the butcher of Kabul
", was a rival of the Taliban before the latter took power between 1996 and 2001.
These same networks announced a few hours later “
the allegiance
” to their movement of Ahmad Massoud, the son of the late commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, known for his opposition to the fundamentalist group.
Ahmad Massoud, who earlier this week asked the United States for arms to defend against the new power in his Panchir Valley northeast of Kabul, has not officially responded to the allegations.
"
Different
"
reign
Since the arrival of Abdul Ghani Baradar on Afghan soil, the Taliban have assured that their reign would be "
different
" from the previous one (1996-2001), marked by its extreme cruelty, particularly towards women.
They repeated that they wanted to form an “
inclusive
” government, without however making it explicit.
The Taliban said they wanted to establish "
good diplomatic relations
" with all countries, but warned that they would not compromise on their religious principles.
China, Russia, Turkey and Iran have issued signals of openness, with Western countries remaining wary.
Read alsoWhen the Taliban formed a parallel state, a gripping documentary on Arte
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who engaged Britain in the war in Afghanistan in 2001 alongside the United States, on Saturday criticized "
the abandonment
" of the country by the West, which he judged "
dangerous and unnecessary
”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Saturday that his country could not bear "an additional migratory burden" from Afghanistan. “
A new wave of migration is inevitable if the necessary measures are not taken in Afghanistan and Iran. Turkey, which already hosts 5 million refugees, cannot bear an additional migratory burden
, ”he said during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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