US troops fired shots into the air at Kabul airport on Monday as thousands of Afghans crowded onto the tarmac in the hope of catching a flight out of the country after the Taliban takeover of the country. Commercial flights from Kabul were cancelled Monday after chaotic scenes at the airport. The US military has secured the perimeter of Kabul airport, the State Department said Sunday, August 15, 2021, adding that Washington’s embassy in the Afghan capital has been completely evacuated.
The visuals from Kabul airport resembles a chaotic bus stand more than an airport. Barbed wires surround the tarmac at some areas, behind which a line of Afghans stare at the few remaining US troops who are guarding the airport. The US troops at the airport fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd this morning. The astonishingly quick collapse of the government, with terrorists taking over the presidential palace on Sunday night, triggered fear and panic in the capital Kabul. The United States lowered the flag on its embassy in Kabul and has relocated almost all staff to the airport. The United States has said that it would deploy as many as 6,000 of its troops at the Kabul airport to ensure the safe departure of its citizens and those from its friends and allies from Afghanistan which has now been taken over by the Taliban, in a sudden and unprecedented collapse of the elected regime led by President Ashraf Ghani. Afghan government forces collapsed without the support of the US military, which invaded in 2001 after the September 11 attacks and toppled the Taliban for its support of Al Qaeda.
