A week after the fall of Kabul, which enshrined the almost total victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan, thousands of people are still gathered at the international airport of the capital, trying to join one of the planes set up by the nations around the world to repatriate their nationals and exfiltrate threatened Afghans.
Evacuation operations continue in extreme conditions, some planes are forced to take off with few passengers from the only runway at the airport, without much help from the control tower.
Race against the deadly time at Kabul airport
Pushes, heat, and finally death.
Seven Afghans died in the crush near Kabul airport on Saturday, the British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
Images shot by UK news channel Sky News on Saturday show the bodies of at least three people, presumably crushed by crowds outside between US soldiers on one side and Islamist fighters on the other.
A NATO official told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that at least 20 people had died in the past seven days in and around the airport.
It is not known whether that number includes people who crashed on the ground Monday after getting on a plane that had taken off.
Despite the American reinforcements, which now number some 6,000 soldiers, the situation is increasingly tense at the airport.
The Americans who secure the complex fear that factions affiliated with Al-Qaeda or Daesh carry out an attack.
The American military planes went into combat landing mode, diving down towards the runway to shorten their descent time as much as possible.
Flares are fired at each night take-off, in order to confuse possible missiles.
Reaching the airport, the impossible journey
"We are trying to identify these Afghans who have made their mark to guide them in the face of the pitfalls that litter their way to the gates of Kabul airport," explained Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. A challenge given the “chaos” that reigns outside. A woman, named Sara, tells Guardian magazine The Observer that families with U.S. passports or visas, or green cards, are unable to make it to the airport. They were turned back at the many checkpoints set up by the Taliban all around the airfield. When they manage to pass, they hit a wall.
Sara and four members of her family had received a message from the consulate telling them to come on Wednesday. But everything was closed. “No one in the United States is helping us. No one tells us which gate to go to - we don't even know when American flights are leaving. There is violence everywhere, but all the doors we go to are closed and no one gives us information or shows pity ”. Sara managed to reach an emergency number on Friday. He was advised to come to the airport to come and wait at the airport. "But the violence is going to crescendo, it is absolutely not sure". She further claims to have seen fifteen people, including children, being shot dead in front of her, creating waves of panic among the crowd.
On Saturday, the United States Embassy in Afghanistan urged American nationals to avoid traveling to the airport because of "potential security threats outside the gates", without specifying the nature of these threats.
The Taliban accuse the US
“America, with all its power and its equipment (…), has failed to bring order to the airport.
There is peace and calm throughout the country, but there is only chaos at Kabul airport (…) It must end as soon as possible, ”a senior Taliban official, Amir, said on Sunday. Khan Mutaqi, blaming the United States for the situation.
"Managing the chaos outside Kabul airport is a complex task," another Taliban leader admitted with more nuance, on condition of anonymity.
He added to Reuters that the movement was seeking "complete clarity on the exit plan for foreign forces."
Paris and London ask US to stay longer
"Our collective moral responsibility is to ensure that the Afghans threatened by their previous commitments are evacuated, and this is necessary beyond any schedule", pleads the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian.
He is not the only one trying to influence the Biden administration.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is seeking talks with his US counterpart Antony Blinken to discuss extending the deadline for the August 31 withdrawal, according to the Sunday Times.
"If the American calendar is maintained, we have no time to waste in evacuating the majority of people who are waiting," added Defense Minister Ben Wallace in the Mail on Sunday.
"Maybe the Americans will be allowed to stay longer, and they will have our full support if they do," the minister added.
In the provinces, the Taliban are organizing
Taliban commanders will meet with former governors and bureaucrats in more than 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces over the next few days to ensure their safety and gain cooperation, according to a Taliban official.
"We are not forcing any former civil servant to join us or to prove their allegiance, they have the right to leave the country if they wish," he added.
The brother of the president in exile pleads for an agreement
Hashmat Ghani, the brother of President Ashraf Ghani who fled the country before the fall of Kabul, speaking to Al Jazeera from his home in Kabul, in the west of the country, says the situation must be accepted.
It is a necessity "for the Afghan people," he said.
He claims to have met with Taliban leaders in recent days, to prepare for the formation of an inclusive government.
"My roots are here, what kind of message would it send if I fled and left my people when they need it", he pretended to question, before estimating that his brother had Reason of Leaving. "If he had been murdered or killed in any way, things would have gotten worse," he concluded. To have.