Chaos continues to thrive in Afghanistan as scores of civilians have occupied Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport hoping for the next possible flight abroad.
The chaos at the airport ensued because the Afghans stuck in the country are trying to flee from the brutal rule the Taliban could impose.
No less than five people have been killed at Kabul airport as hundreds of people desperate to get out of the country tried to forcibly enter planes, witnesses told Reuters.
The insurgents had swept into the capital on Sunday after the Afghanistan government fell and the embattled president, Ashraf Ghani, fled.
Heavily armed Taliban fighters fanned out across the capital, and several entered Kabul’s abandoned presidential palace.
The fighters deployed across Kabul took over abandoned police posts, pledging to maintain law and order in the country.
However, commercial flights from Kabul were canceled Monday as chaotic scenes continued to unfold at the airport.
The media office of Hamid Karzai International announced in a statement that all civilian flights from the airport had been suspended.
US troops are at the airport, helping in the evacuation of embassy staff and other civilians.
The troops had earlier fired in the air to scatter the crowd and prevent hundreds of civilians from running onto the tarmac.
An official who spoke to Reuters described the situation at the airport as “out of control”.
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