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Afghanistan chaos: Taliban fighters reportedly block Aussies from rescue flights

Kabul airport is reportedly under fire by the Taliban as desperate Australians say the shooting and gas bombs are thwarting efforts to get out.

Mathew Murphy and AFP
4 min read
August 20, 2021 - 7:40AM
Shots fired outside Kabul airport as Taliban force people away

The Taliban is reportedly blocking people from making rescue flights out of Kabul airport, shooting at the crowd and throwing gas bombs as people try to get out of Afghanistan.

The ABC’s Stephen Dziedzic tweeted that he had spoken to a number of Australians who say it is “impossible” to get through as they called on the Morrison Government to do something to help.

Unconfirmed reports on social media say some people have been killed as US forces and the Taliban struggle to contain the desperate throngs on their respective sides of an unofficial no-man’s land.

“I went to the airport with my kids and family … the Taliban and Americans were shooting,” said one man who until recently had worked for a foreign NGO told AFP.

“Despite that, people were still moving forward (to get in) because they knew a situation worse than death awaited them outside the airport.”

There have been chaotic scenes since the weekend, when the Taliban drove unopposed into the capital after a two-week lightning offensive that capped a simmering 20-year insurgency.

Twelve people have been killed in and around the airport since Sunday, a NATO and a Taliban official said. The deaths were caused either by gun shots or by stampedes, the Taliban official said.

He urged people who do not have the legal right to travel to go home.

“We don’t want to hurt anyone at the airport,” said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified.

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An A400 M type transport aircraft of the Turkish Air Forces during evacuation of Turkish citizen in Kabul international Hamid Karzai airport.
An A400 M type transport aircraft of the Turkish Air Forces during evacuation of Turkish citizen in Kabul international Hamid Karzai airport.

The first flight of people evacuated from Afghanistan is expected to land in Australia in the early hours of Friday morning.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed a flight from a military base in Dubai to Perth was scheduled to leave on Thursday “and it’ll find its way to Australia”.

The passengers will quarantine in Perth.

“We are moving urgently, safely, because we’re taking nothing for granted,” Mr Morrison said.

The first Australian Defence Force evacuation flight has departed Kabul with 26 persons on board.
The first Australian Defence Force evacuation flight has departed Kabul with 26 persons on board.

Australia flew just 26 people out of Afghanistan in its first rescue flight.

The government is sending 250 Australian Defence Force personnel to Afghanistan to help people evacuate.

Three additional Australian military aircraft are in Dubai preparing to fly for evacuation missions also.

Mr Morrison said the government’s priority was ensuring the safety of its citizens.

“We have over 130 Australians in Afghanistan, working in the UN, NGOs and elsewhere, and we are working to bring them and their families home,” the prime minister said in a statement. “We are also assisting those who have been granted humanitarian visas, and others who are in the process of applying for protection.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The government insists it has been treating applications from locally engaged Afghan staff as a priority, saying more than 400 people have settled in Australia this year.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said people should travel to the Kabul airport if it was safe to do so.

“Wait for a planned evacuation flight,” DFAT said. “Take all extra precautions for your safety. Large and potentially volatile crowds may gather.

“Review your personal security plans and be aware of your surroundings. Make sure you have registered with DFAT.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said the government was aware of Australians having access issues to the airport in Kabul.

“We absolutely know there are continuing, significant issues ongoing with access to Hamid Karzai International Airport and we have seen the reports of those,” she said.

Senator Payne said ensuring the security of the airport was Australia’s priority.

“We’re also working with other countries now to share lists of potential passengers and to co-ordinate our information and rescue efforts as we are able to,” she said.

“We’re working with our counterparts to ensure that we have a staging area, a designated space, at Hamid Karzai International Airport and also transporting supplies to support that.

“We are continuing to contact those Australians and visa holders, and to support them where we are able to, to get through those checkpoints and into the airport.”

The United States said the Taliban were reneging on pledges to allow Afghans who worked with the United States and its allies out of the country.

“We have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and their commitments to our government, are blocking Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport,” Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters.

“We expect them to allow all American citizens, all third-country nationals and all Afghans who wish to leave to do so safely and without harassment.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday that the new regime would be “positively different” from their 1996-2001 stint.

But Taliban 2.0 remains a hard sell, with women largely staying off the streets, and journalists and those who have worked with Western governments and organisations saying they are terrified.

Memories of the militants’ brutal 1996-2001 regime and the near-two-decade insurgency that killed tens of thousands are etched on Afghan minds – especially women and religious minorities.

US President Joe Biden is under fire for his response to Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden is under fire for his response to Afghanistan.

As many as 15,000 American citizens may remain inside Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden has said.

Meanwhile, the were heartbreaking scenes as Afghani mothers passed their children over walls and barbed wire to get them to safety.

“It was terrible, women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking British soldiers to take them, some got caught in the wire,” A British Officer told Sky News.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/world/middle-east/kabul-airport-under-fire-as-australians-try-and-make-rescue-flight-in-afghanistan/news-story/06eaec55b2739aff6ab3518fa4133992