Rush on Kabul airport as Afghans flee Taliban takeover

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of the capital's airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed.

Some clung to the side of a United States military transport plane before takeoff, in a widely shared video that captured the sense of desperation as America's 20-year war comes to a chaotic end.

The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing an end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan.

The country's Western-trained security forces collapsed or fled in the face of an insurgent offensive that tore through the country in just over a week, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last American troops at the end of the month.

In the capital, a tense calm set in, with most people hiding in their homes as the Taliban deployed fighters at major intersections.

There were scattered reports of looting and armed men knocking on doors and gates, and the streets were eerily quiet for a city of five million people usually jammed with traffic.

Fighters could be seen searching vehicles at one of the city's main squares.

Many fear chaos, after the Taliban freed thousands of prisoners and the police simply melted away, or a return to the kind of brutal rule the Taliban imposed when they were last in power. Residents raced to Kabul's international airport, where the “civilian side” was closed until further notice, according to Afghanistan's Civil Aviation Authority.

The US military and other Western forces continued to organise evacuations.

Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people running across the tarmac as US troops fired warning shots in the air.

One showed a crowd pushing and shoving its way up a staircase, trying to board a plane, with some people hanging off the railings.

In another video, hundreds of people could be seen running alongside a US Air Force transport plane as it moved down a runway.

Some clung to the side of the jet just before takeoff. That raised questions about how much longer aircraft would be able to safely take off and land.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the chaos at the airport.

Shafi Arifi, who had a ticket to travel to Uzbekistan on Sunday, was unable to board her plane because it was packed with people who had raced across the tarmac and climbed aboard, with no police or airport staff in sight.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.