By Abdul kimera
A day after the Taliban forces evaded the capital Kabul, which made the president flee out to Uzbekistan, thousands of Afghan nationals were desperate to leave the country on Monday.
Many Afghans thronged Kabul airport seeking to fly out of the country, and, according to the footage circulating on social media, some were clinging to the U.S military plane as it taxied on the runway prompting the U.S military of about 6000 soldiers that was in control of guarding the evacuation to suspend evacuations to clear the airfield.
The U.S and other foreign countries had been rushing to fly their diplomatic personnel out of Kabul, the capital.
According to a U.S official, troops fired in the air to deter people who were forcing their way on to the flight. It was not clear whether the seven people who died at the airport were shot by the military present or killed in the stampede.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country last week, on Sunday, as the Taliban entered Kabul saying that he wanted to avoid blood shed an act the U.S president has described “failing to make peace” Taliban officials have declared the end of the 20-years war with the government in an issued statement.
In his first speech since the Taliban took control, president Joe Biden on Monday defended his decision to withdraw the troops from Afghanistan saying “ I stand squarely behind my decision if anything, the developments of the past week reinforcement that ending U.S military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.”
“American troops cannot and shouldn’t’ be fighting and dying in a war that Afghanistan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” president Biden added.
Right after the president’s speech, the pentagon said that the U.S military, that had also taken command of Afghan space, had reopened the airport, for other flights too. That they remained committed to evacuate Afghans that aided their military, after concerns that they could be targeted by the Taliban forces.
