Taliban take children as hostages, Afghanistan evacuee gives birth on flight
Hundreds of Taliban fighters have been captured and negotiations are ongoing about a trade for the children as a woman gives birth on an evacuation flight.
More than 20 children were taken hostage by the Taliban as part of a military advance towards the resistance bolthole, the Panjshir valley on Sunday. But in a fierce response by anti-Taliban resistance fighters, hundreds of Taliban fighters have been captured and negotiations are ongoing about a trade for the children.
Earlier on the weekend the anti-Taliban fighters had retaken at least two districts, Salah and Banu in the Baghlan area, which is west of Panjshir.
But on Sunday the Taliban abducted local children from Keshen Abad village and demanded the surrender of their fathers.
An Afghan National Army spokesman, Sarfaraz, announced the developments on Twitter. He said that in the Keshen Abad village, in Baghlan, the Taliban kidnapped 20 children and demanded the fathers of the children surrender.
“The local uprising forces retaliated massively and two commanders of Taliban succumbed to uprising forces,” he said, adding the hashtag “war crime”.
A resistance fighter in Panjshir, Abdul, told The Australian that there had been a fierce response from angry locals about the disappearance of the children and in the ensuing fighting, several hundred Taliban fighters were captured and there were talks to use them to swap for the hostages. He believed that the numbers of children who had been kidnapped was closer to 50.
“I don’t know if the trade has happened yet,” Abdul told The Australian.
“But I do know 91 Taliban were killed by 3pm today (Sunday).”
Abdul said he had been to “ground zero” in Panjshir and reported that the valley is currently very calm and quiet, although everyone was on alert for any Taliban action.
He said the only fighting taking place was “the war going on social media”. He said “there is no fighting at ground zero”. He added: “But we are prepared for when things change.”
Meanwhile an Afghan woman went into labour during a United States evacuation flight out of Kabul, safely delivering a baby girl after the pilot dropped to a lower altitude to help with oxygen levels in the military aircraft.
Medical staff from the 86th Medical Group helped the Afghan mother and her family off a US Air Force C-17 moments after she delivered a child aboard the aircraft upon landing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany late Saturday.
This comes as the chaotic and dangerous scenes surrounding Kabul airport sparked a panicked surge on Saturday. Britain’s defence ministry said seven people were crushed to death in the crowd surges, bringing the total known deaths in the airport region to around 20.
On Sunday the Taliban reacted with heightened aggression, beating back the crowds with batons and gun butts.
“Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the ministry said in a statement.
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