Reuters.- Military evacuation flights for diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan resumed on Tuesday after the Kabul airport runway was cleared of thousands of desperate people trying to flee after the Taliban seized the capital.
The number of civilians was down, a Western security official at the airport told Reuters, a day after chaotic scenes in which American troops fired to disperse crowds and people clung to a United States military transport plane. United as it proceeded down the runway to take off.
“The runway at Kabul International Airport is open. I see planes landing and taking off, ”said Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO’s civilian representative, on Twitter.
At least 12 military flights took off, according to a diplomat at the airport. The arrival of aircraft from countries such as Australia and Poland was expected to pick up their nationals and their Afghan collaborators.
As they rush to evacuate civilians, foreign powers are also weighing how to respond to the new rulers in Kabul and how to deal with refugees trying to leave the country.
Former US President George W. Bush, who launched the “war on terror” in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Washington must move quickly to help Afghan refugees.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu indicated that his country is in talks with all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, and was positive about their statements since they took control.
Under a withdrawal agreement with US troops sealed last year, the Taliban agreed not to attack foreign troops when they left.
Do not miss: The war in Afghanistan cost the United States $ 300 million a day for 20 years
US forces seized control of the airport – their only route out of the country – on Sunday as militants ended a week of rapid progress with the capture of Kabul without fighting, 20 years after being toppled by a US-led invasion. United States.
Flights were suspended for much of Monday, when at least five people were killed, according to witnesses. The media reported that two people fell from the bottom of a US military plane after takeoff.
A US official told Reuters that US troops had killed two gunmen who appeared to have fired at the crowd at the airport.
US President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw forces after 20 years of war – the longest in the country – which he said cost more than a trillion dollars.
However, a video posted Monday showing hundreds of desperate Afghans trying to get on a US military plane as it was about to take off could haunt the United States, as could a 1975 photograph showing people struggling to get into a helicopter on the roof of a Saigon building became the emblem of the humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam.
Do not miss: Photogallery: Kabul Airport in Chaos; Taliban proclaim end of war in Afghanistan
40,000 Wounded
The Taliban began their offensive in the spring, attacking government positions in provinces and targeted assassinations in cities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 40,000 people with gun wounds were treated at facilities it supports in June, July and August, 7,600 of them since Aug. 1.
Read also: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ban Taliban content
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the hasty withdrawal of US troops had a “serious negative impact,” reported the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, adding that Wang was pledged to work with Washington to promote stability.
The United Nations Security Council called for talks to create a new government in Afghanistan, after Secretary General António Guterres warned of “chilling restrictions” on human rights and violations against women and girls.
Follow us on Google News to keep you always informed