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Afghanistan
Kabul Airport Stories
2021-08-22
Desperate Crowds Gather for 7th Day at Kabul Airport
[ToloNews] Seven days after the takeover of Kabul city by the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, thousands of Afghans continue to crowd outside Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...One of the more egregious mistakes of the post 9-11 era...
International Airport in an attempt to leave the country.

Most of the people waiting outside the airport do not have documents.

Ground Report: Kabul Airport Gates Are Closed, Taliban Confiscating U.S. Passports
[BREITBART] The Kabul airport gates are reportedly closed Saturday, as additional details indicate the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
is confiscating U.S. passports.

"All of the entrance gates to the airport were closed on Saturday morning because of the dangerous situation," the New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

reported, adding that the U.S. embassy in Kabul is advising evacuees not to travel to the airport in light of "security threats."

"Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport," the embassy alerted on its website, "we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so."

The active security threats come as the New York Post reported the Taliban is "now attempting to take their U.S. passports and identification orders in an attempt to stop them from leaving the country."

"I got to the gates and was about to show my passport, but the Taliban got it, and he said you are not allowed to go through and wouldn’t give it back," one Afghan American on the ground told the Post. "I was lucky a U.S. marine was right there and forced him to give it back."

Former Navy SEAL Ephraim Mattos, who works to evacuate people on the ground, also confirmed the reports to the Post.

"U.S. passports, driver’s licenses — they are confiscating those pieces of documentation from American citizens," said Mattos. "They lose proof of who they are, and this has happened on multiple occasions in multiple places":

Kabul residents speaking to TOLOnews urged those at the airport without passports or documents to not create problems for those who do have proper documents.

Sayed Jawad and his six family members who are waiting outside the Kabul airport said that despite their having passports and other documents they have not been able to enter the airport.

"The foreigners have locked the doors and there is no movement into the airport," said Sayed Jawad.

A local resident named Sadat said: "All people that you see here have a problem."

"We tell all our brothers and sisters that nothing is happening here and to stay at home," said Sediq Habibi, a resident of Kabul.

Footage broadcast by CBS showed Afghans faced with money problems after being moved to a military base.

The footage showed Afghans living without access to medical facilities and other services.

Day Six: 2,500 Americans in Total Evacuated, 7,500-Plus Still Stranded

ISIS operating at #Kabul airport according to unconfirmed French intelligence
Unexpectedly.


350 people evacuated by Pakistani embassy in Kabul
[KhaamaPress] Pakistain embassy based in Kabul announced on Friday that they have helped around 350 people including foreigners to leave Afghanistan for Pakistain.

As per the embassy, the people were flown out in two special flights of Pakistain International Airline from Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance...
International Airport (HKIA).

Pakistain ambassador to Kabul Mansoor Ahmad Khan in a Twitter post said that the embassy had made arrangements for the passengers inside the compound of the embassy and were then flown out.

The 350 people include foreigners, Paks, and Afghans.

Pakistain is now another country after the US, La Belle France, Britannia, Spain, India, and other countries who are either helping countries evacuate their own nationals and their Afghan allies or are vacating their own nationals and Afghan colleagues.

Earlier, Pakistain had also opened a Torkham crossing-point to help stranded people cross the border into Pakistain.

Leaving Afghanistan is now one of the most challenging and difficult tasks as the HKIA is besieged by thousands of people desperate to leave Kabul.

The airport’s security is now manned by US forces who are deployed to evacuate thousands of their nationals and Afghans who have worked for them.

Indians questioned by Taliban: Evacuation soon say sources
[OneIndia] All Indians who were reportedly kidnapped by the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
are safe and their documents are being processed for evacuation, local media reports said.

Earlier, local media reports said that 150 people including many Indians were captured by the Taliban a claim that the outfit's spokesperson Ahmadullah Waseq denied.

Other reports quoting Taliban sources said that the group did not abduct Indians. They were escorted to a safe gate by the Taliban, the report also said.

A few hours back, an IAF special aircraft landed in Tajikistan after evacuating 85 Indians stranded in Kabul. They will be flown back to India in an Air India flight.

Local media reports said that the Taliban had taken more than 150 people from near the Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
...A product, and probably the sole product, of the Southern Alliance...
Airport in Kabul. A number of them are Afghan citizens and Afghan Sikhs. There were many Indian citizens, the reports also said.

India has so far evacuated all its embassy staff. However estimates suggest that there are 1,000 Indian citizens who remain in several cities of the country. India has been trying to locate all of them, but it proving to be a challenge as not all of them have registered themselves with the embassy.
Related:
Airport in Kabul: 2021-08-18 Deutsche Welle live updates, Day 2: UN casts doubt on Taliban promises
Airport in Kabul: 2021-08-17 US embassy staff still functioning in Kabul
Airport in Kabul: 2021-06-26 US to Keep 650 Troops in Afghanistan After Withdrawal
Posted by:trailing wife

#11  Yuge C.F. of immense proportions.
Posted by: JohnQC   2021-08-22 16:46  

#10  One thing I don't understand is how we're going to extract the Marines, airborne, SOF, and other mil guys we've recently sent to Kabul if we lose the ability to fly men out and supplies in. But I'm sure General Milley has thought that through.
Posted by: Matt   2021-08-22 13:05  

#9  My take as well Tennessee. Time, it is not on our side with this one.
Posted by: Besoeker   2021-08-22 11:38  

#8  Well, ISIS doesn't care for us, the Brits, or even the Taliban... A VBIED(s) anywhere near the airport or its approaches is the worse case scenario.

Its a good thing all of the really bad actors and planners are detained in the Bagram DFIP and Pul-e-Charkhi...then again maybe not thanks to Austin and Milley's jackassery.

It is likely a race against time to stay inside the ISIS operational planning and IED prep timeline to get our folks out of the Kabul AO before they are prepared to strike.
Posted by: Tennessee   2021-08-22 11:35  

#7  Many years ago, SF operators using orange taxis and dressed in local attire (Hajji mufti) were able to get around in Baghdad, Iraq and vicinity at any hour.
Posted by: Besoeker   2021-08-22 07:18  

#6  A senior US official said that small groups of Americans and possibly other civilians will now be given specific instructions on what to do, including movement to extraction points where they can be gathered up by special operations teams.
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-08-22 07:12  

#5  US troops fire shots into the air and use teargas on desperate crowds as chaos at Kabul airport enters fifth day: Taliban block Westerners from reaching flights and Afghan mothers give their BABIES to soldiers
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-08-22 07:10  

#4  If the TB permit the airport to remain open, the evacuations can continue. If the TB closes the airport with gunfire, mortars, car bombs, shoot down an airplane, etc. things will begin to rapidly deteriorate. Whoever controls the ground, controls events. At this point we are at the mercy of the TB.

The French disaster at Dien Bien Phu turned South when use of the airstrip was eliminated.

Posted by: Besoeker   2021-08-22 07:02  

#3  Pentagon hints troops may begin operations OUTSIDE Kabul airport to rescue US citizens as Taliban leader arrives in Kabul: Biden will address the nation at 4pm and stranded Americans in Afghanistan tell him 'we need help'
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-08-22 06:53  

#2  US Embassy tells Americans NOT to go to Kabul airport after ISIS threaten 'suicide car bomb attack': Warning comes as Pentagon AGAIN contradicts Biden's claim there's 'no indication' the Taliban is stopping citizens
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-08-22 06:52  

#1  'We are trapped in hell': Afghans caught in Kabul airport chaos say victims are being shot, beaten, and trampled to death with at least TWENTY killed in stampede to escape Taliban before America shuts down lifeline
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-08-22 06:51  

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