Desperate Afghans throw their BABIES into barbed wire at Kabul airport as American soldiers set off stun grenades to keep crowds back – but Taliban ARE letting Westerners out after Biden abandoned Afghanistan
- Fresh chaos broke out at Kabul airport overnight, as shots were fired to keep crowds back from gates
- Women threw babies over barbed wire to soldiers in desperate bid to get them out of the country
- Taliban said 12 have died at the airport since Sunday from gunshots or stampedes, urging people to go home
- Joe Biden has angrily defended his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying chaos was inevitable
- Boris Johnson was slammed over withdrawal in parliament while there were calls for Dominic Raab to resign after it emerged he failed to make a crucial phone call to help translators out of the country
Women threw babies over barbed wire at Kabul airport as troops set off stun grenades and fired shots overnight to drive back desperate crowds as the west’s ignominious exit from Afghanistan descended further into chaos.
At least 12 people have died at the airport since Sunday, according to the Taliban which has taken charge of security, saying they were either shot or tramped while urging crowds to disperse. ‘We don’t want to hurt anybody,’ a spokesman said today.
Meanwhile British defence secretary Ben Wallace insisted that westerners are being allowed through the Taliban’s ring of steel around the airport, after reports on Wednesday that British and German passport holders had been unable to pass through and planes were departing half empty.
‘We haven’t sent a single empty plane home,’ he added. We will use every space on our planes possible.’
Mr Wallace also urged people not to pass their babies to British troops inside the airport compound, saying that unaccompanied children will not be loaded on to flights out of the country.
Elsewhere, Joe Biden continued to defend his decision to withdraw – insisting that chaos was inevitable while dismissing footage of people falling to their deaths from US planes as happening ‘four or five days ago’.
Boris Johnson was also mauled over the British government’s response to the crisis in a Commons debate, while foreign secretary Dominic Raab was facing calls to resign after it emerged he failed to make a crucial phone call about getting Afghan translators out of the country – delegating to a junior minister.
Labour MP Tom Tugendhat summed up the feeling of dismay when he said: ‘This is what defeat looks like.’
Babies were thrown over barbed wire towards troops at Kabul airport in a desperate bid to get them out of the country as the west’s ignominious exit from Afghanistan continued
Troops fired gunshots and let off stun grenades at the entrance to the northern military side of the airport overnight in a vain bid to keep crowds of thousands from rushing the gates
Tens of thousands of Afghans have gathered at the north and south entrances to Kabul airport in the hopes of securing a seat on western evacuation flights out of the country
A British soldier carries an Afghan girl away from crowds at the gate, as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace today urged people not to pass their children to troops because they will not get a seat on flights out
As the airlift of Western citizens and Afghans who worked for foreign governments sought to ramp up, President Biden said US forces will remain until the evacuation of Americans was finished, even if that meant staying past the August 31 deadline for complete withdrawal.
In total, at least 8,000 people have been evacuated since Sunday, a Western security source in Kabul said.
A day earlier armed Taliban members prevented people from getting into the airport compound.
‘It’s a complete disaster. The Taliban were firing into the air, pushing people, beating them with AK47s,’ said one person who was trying to get through on Wednesday.
A Taliban official said commanders and soldiers had fired into the air to disperse crowds outside Kabul airport, but told Reuters: ‘We have no intention to injure anyone.’
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said domestic air carriers and civilian pilots will be allowed to fly into Kabul to conduct evacuation or relief flights only with prior U.S. Defense Department approval.
Facing a barrage of criticism over the U.S. withdrawal, Biden said chaos was inevitable. Asked in an interview with ABC News if the exit of U.S. troops could have been handled better, Biden said: ‘No. … The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens.’
A new government to replace that of President Ashraf Ghani, who is in exile in the United Arab Emirates, may take the form of a ruling council, with Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in overall charge, a senior member of the group said.
Western nations have been accused of leaving people behind as evacuation flights take off from Kabul half-empty. Pictured are Afghan women and children disembarking a Spanish flight that had 50 people on board, despite having room for over 100
Afghan women disembark from a Spanish Airbus A-400M plane that had ‘just over 50 people’ on board despite having capacity for 150, at Torrejon de Ardoz air base near Madrid
Spain’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs Jose Manuel Albares (centre left) and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration Jose Luis Escriva (centre right) escort Afghan evacuees off the first flight to arrive from Afghanistan to Spain
Afghan men, women and children disembark from the first evacuation flight to land in Spain as the west pulls out of Afghanistan after 20 years of fighting
An Airbus A-400M military transport plane with ‘just over 50’ evacuees from Afghanistan lands in Spain overnight
US troops will stay until evacuation is over, Biden pledges
President Joe Biden said when pressed Wednesday that U.S. troops were ‘going to stay’ in Afghanistan until they get American citizens out, even if it means running through an August 31 deadline order.
He made the statement despite his own order that U.S. troops will leave by an August 31 deadline, acknowledging the effort could run over if American citizens are still stuck in Afghanistan amid security and bureaucratic hurdles.
‘We’ve got like 10 to 15,000 Americans in the country right now. Right? And are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out is out?’ George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Biden in an interview airing Wednesday and Thursday.
‘Yes,’ Biden replied.
‘So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond Aug. 31st?’ the Good Morning America host asked him.
‘No,’ Biden dodged. ‘Americans should understand that we’re going to try to get it done before Aug. 31st.’
Stephanopoulos pressed him. ‘But if we don’t,’ Stephanopoulos said, ‘the troops will stay? he asked.
‘If we don’t, we’ll determine at the time who’s left,’ Biden responded, prompting his interviewer to make one more stab at an answer.
‘And?’ Stephanopoulos asked him
‘And if you’re American force – if there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay to get them all out,’ Biden responded.
Afghanistan would not be a democracy. ‘It is sharia law and that is it,’ Waheedullah Hashimi, a senior Taliban official, told Reuters.
Ghani, who has been bitterly criticised by former ministers for leaving Afghanistan as Taliban forces swept into Kabul on Sunday, said he had followed the advice of government officials. He denied reports he took large sums of money with him.
‘If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul,’ Ghani said in a video streamed on Facebook.
Meanwhile the Taliban celebrated Afghanistan’s Independence Day on Thursday by declaring it had beaten ‘the arrogant of power of the world’ in the United States, but challenges to their rule ranging from running the country’s frozen government to potentially facing armed opposition began to emerge.
From ATMs being out of cash to worries about food across this nation of 38 million people reliant on imports, the Taliban face all the challenges of the civilian government they dethroned without the level of international aid it enjoyed.
Meanwhile, opposition figures fleeing to Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley now talk of launching an armed resistance under the banner of the Northern Alliance, which allied with the U.S. during the 2001 invasion.
The Taliban so far have offered no plans for the government they plan to lead, other than to say it will be guided by Shariah, or Islamic, law. But the pressure continues to grow.
‘A humanitarian crisis of incredible proportions is unfolding before our eyes,’ warned Mary Ellen McGroarty, the head of the World Food Program in Afghanistan.
Thursday marked Afghanistan’s Independence Day, which commemorates the 1919 treaty that ended British rule in the central Asian nation.
‘Fortunately, today we are celebrating the anniversary of independence from Britain,’ the Taliban said. ‘We at the same time as a result of our jihadi resistance forced another arrogant of power of the world, the United States, to fail and retreat from our holy territory of Afghanistan.’
Unacknowledged by the insurgents, however, was their violent suppression of a protest Wednesday in the eastern city of Jalalabad, which saw demonstrations lower the Taliban’s flag and replace it with Afghanistan’s tricolor. At least one person was killed.
While urging people to return to work, most government officials remain hiding in their homes or attempting to flee the Taliban.
A C-17 military jet lands at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport carrying the first batch of evacuees from Afghanistan
An Air France flight lands at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as the first batch of French evacuees touch down
Afghan women and children walk down an air bridge at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport after being evacuated
Afghan president defends his decision to flee
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says he left Kabul to prevent bloodshed as he denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace.
Ghani, who confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates, said he was in ‘consultation’ to return to Afghanistan after he met a barrage of bitter criticism by former ministers for leaving the country suddenly as Taliban forces entered the capital on Sunday.
But the United States – Ghani’s most important ally – reiterated today that it did not see Ghani as a player in the region, after the ousted president vowed to return.
‘He is no longer a figure in Afghanistan,’ Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters as she declined to comment on the United Arab Emirates’ decision to grant him asylum.
Speaking from exile today, in his first public comment since it was confirmed he was in the UAE, Ghani said he had left on the advice of government officials, telling viewers through a video streamed on Facebook: ‘If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul.’
Ghani said that he had been attempting to stop Afghanistan turning ‘into another Yemen of Syria’, and he insisted allegations that he had left the country with a large amount of money were ‘baseless’ and ‘lies’.
Reports had earlier suggested that Ghani fled with $169million in his cash-stuffed helicopter and has been given asylum in Dubai on ‘humanitarian grounds’.
He said there was no truth to allegations that he escaped with ‘suitcases of cash’, saying it was all part of a ‘personality assassination’.
Questions remain over Afghanistan’s $9 billion foreign reserves, the vast majority now apparently frozen in the U.S. The country’s Central Bank head warns the country’s supply of physical U.S. dollars is ‘close to zero,’ which will see inflation raise the prices of needed food while depreciating its currency, the afghani.
Meanwhile, a drought has seen over 40% of the country’s crop lost, McGroarty said. Many fled the Taliban advance and now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul.
‘This is really Afghanistan’s hour of greatest need, and we urge the international community to stand by the Afghan people at this time,’ she said.
Two of Afghanistan’s key border crossings with Pakistan, Torkham near Jalalabad and Chaman near Spin Boldak, are now open for cross-border trade. Hundreds of trucks have passed through, Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said.
However, traders still fear insecurity on the roads, confusion over customs duties and pressures to price their goods even higher given the economic conditions.
There has been no armed opposition to the Taliban. But videos from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, a stronghold of the Northern Alliance militias that allied with the U.S. during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, appear to show potential opposition figures gathering there. That area is in the only province that has not fallen to the Taliban.
Those figures include members of the deposed government – Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who asserted on Twitter that he is the country’s rightful president, and Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi – as well as Ahmad Massoud, the son of the slain Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.
In an opinion piece published by The Washington Post, Massoud asked for weapons and aid to fight the Taliban.
‘I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban,’ he wrote.
‘The Taliban is not a problem for the Afghan people alone. Under Taliban control, Afghanistan will without doubt become ground zero of radical Islamist terrorism; plots against democracies will be hatched here once again.’
American troops stand guard at Hamid Karzai airport in Afghanistan as evacuations from the country continue
A US Marine escorts Department of State personnel to be processed for evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport
The US has so-far evacuated some 2,000 people from Afghanistan and is hoping to evacuate 20,000 more in an operation that could last for weeks
Joe Biden snaps over photos of Afghans falling from planes in Kabul and suggests there’s no way America could have gotten out ‘without chaos ensuing’
President Joe Biden angrily defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying on Wednesday that chaos was unavoidable – comments which were immediately seized on as shameful by his critics.
Speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Biden defended the US withdrawal, which saw the Afghan government crumble and fall to the Taliban just 11 days later.
On Wednesday the US military evacuated approximately 1,800 individuals on ten C-17s. Since August 14, nearly 6,000 people have been taken out of Kabul. Biden told ABC News said he wants to rescue 15,000 Americans, and up to 65,000 Afghan refugees who helped the US military operation.
‘The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing — I don’t know how that happens,’ he said.
His remarks were met with disbelief.
Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s ambassador to the UN, said it was ‘shameful’.
‘This is such a slap in the face to the thousands of Americans still in Afghanistan,’ she tweeted.
‘He had no plan, he has no urgency, and he won’t take responsibility. #Shameful’
President Biden defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during an interview on Wednesday, saying it was difficult to see how chaos could have been avoided
Two people are seen falling from a U.S. Air Force plane on Monday, having tried to jump on board as it was taxiing away from Kabul airport
Liz Cheney, senator for Wyoming, who has long argued against withdrawing troops, echoed her remarks, saying: ‘A truly ignorant and shameful performance by an American president.’
Tom Cotton, Republican senator for Arkansas, tweeted: ‘No way to avoid this chaos? That’s a bald-faced lie. Joe Biden is as dishonest as he is impotent.’
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s former senior counselor, shared a Fox News article titled: ‘Biden panned for ‘shameful’ comments on Afghan withdrawal during ABC interview: ‘It’s really bad’.’
Iowa congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks said that the White House’s lack of planning was ‘unacceptable’.
‘This statement downplaying his administrations lack of planning, speaks volumes to their lack of commitment to the safety of our American troops and Afghan allies,’ she said.
‘Unacceptable.’
John McCormack, a fellow at the National Review Institute, agreed, saying: ‘Biden waited more than 72 hours since Kabul fell to commit to bringing home every American citizen stuck in Afghanistan. In the interim, top admin officials hedged. Still not clear what the plan is to accomplish this goal.’
Commentator Jack Posobiec tweeted: ‘Biden just told ABC that the Afghanistan withdrawal couldn’t have been handled better There are thousands of American citizens trapped behind enemy lines as he speaks.’
Biden answered questions about his Afghan withdrawal for the first time in more than a week during an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News
The world watched in horror as desperate Afghans ran alongside departing U.S. Air Force planes. Some tried to cling to the undercarriage as they sought to escape the Taliban
Some of the lucky ones managed to rush aboard a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft. The crew decided to fly them to Qatar and safety despite having some 640 people aboard
Donald Trump Jr criticized Biden’s press conference on Wednesday, during which he spoke about COVID, and refused to take questions.
‘10,000 Americans or more are stranded in Afghanistan, trapped by a terrorist organization, and our president is too much of a coward to take a single question from the media. #CowardInChief,’ he said.
At another point in the interview, Biden snapped when asked about horrific images of Afghans falling from planes.
‘That was four days ago, five days ago,’ he said, even though the images of people falling to their deaths emerged on Monday.
Ric Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany, said: Why did @GStephanopoulos let him lie about this?
‘@Abc has some explaining to do. This was an exclusive and that means they have a responsibility.’
The Massachusetts Republican Party account tweeted: ‘If #Biden actually had a plan, Afghans wouldn’t have been falling out of the sky over #Kabul.
‘Disgraceful!’
On social media, images of chaos at Kabul airport were widely shared.
‘Unreal. Shame on the @JoeBiden administration for this mess,’ tweeted pro life activist Lila Rose.
Sharing the clip of desperate Afghans running alongside a U.S. Air Force plane, trying to climb aboard, David Patrikarakos tweeted: ‘This footage will still be played in 100 years. It now joins images of the retreat from Saigon and the naked Vietnamese girl as one of the west’s most shameful moments in modern history.’
Dominic Raab was ‘too busy’ on holiday to help brave Afghan translators
Dominic Raab failed to make a crucial phone call while he was on holiday to seek urgent help airlifting translators out of Afghanistan, the Mail can reveal
Dominic Raab failed to make a crucial phone call while he was on holiday to seek urgent help airlifting translators out of Afghanistan, the Mail can reveal.
Senior officials in the Foreign Secretary’s department advised last Friday that he should make immediate contact with Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar as the Taliban advanced on Kabul.
The officials said Mr Raab, who was on a luxury break with his family in Crete, needed to urgently request assistance in rescuing interpreters who had worked for the British military. They said it was important the call was made by him rather than a junior minister.
But Mr Raab did not make the call. Officials were told he was unavailable and that Lord Goldsmith, the Foreign Office minister on duty, should speak to Mr Atmar instead.
The Foreign Office said last night: ‘The Foreign Secretary was engaged on a range of other calls and this one was delegated to another minister.’
However, the Afghan foreign ministry refused to set up an immediate call between Mr Atmar and a junior minister who was not his direct counterpart. As a result, they did not speak until at least the next day, with crucial time lost before the Taliban seized control of Kabul on Sunday.
The revelation is likely to reignite the controversy over Mr Raab’s handling of the crisis. In a fiery Commons debate yesterday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer aimed a barb at the Foreign Secretary, saying: ‘I wouldn’t stay on holiday while Kabul was falling.’
It came as the situation in Kabul appeared to dramatically worsen, with chaotic scenes in and around the airport that is now the only route out of the country.
The Amirandes Hotel in Crete, Greece. Senior officials in the Foreign Secretary’s department advised last Friday that he should make immediate contact with Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar as the Taliban advanced on Kabul
Many Afghan translators who worked with UK troops are trapped in the capital and unable to reach the airfield as they fear being uncovered at Taliban checkpoints. With crowds besieging the airport’s perimeter, and the Taliban in control of the city, it is unclear how long order will last.
The fall of the Afghan government has left thousands of British citizens, Afghan interpreters and their families stranded in Kabul in a desperate situation awaiting mercy flights back to the UK.
Mr Raab has faced fierce criticism after it emerged that he was on holiday while the Taliban completed their stunning takeover.
The Foreign Secretary has insisted he was engaged while abroad and could direct Foreign Office operations while out of the country.
But the Mail can reveal that he did not personally make a call on Friday that officials said would assist with the evacuation of Afghan translators. Foreign Office officials said Mr Raab needed to request assistance from the Afghan government with getting interpreters who had worked for the British military out of the country.
Officials suggested he ask Mr Atmar to allow Afghans to get on flights without passports and visas so they could flee quickly.
The officials said the British Embassy in Kabul had advised it was important the call was made by him rather than a junior minister.
Both US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin had already spoken with Mr Atmar, the advice said.
‘We recommend the Foreign Secretary urgently calls the Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar,’ the senior officials said in the message sent last Friday afternoon. But Mr Raab did not make the call.
In the Commons yesterday, Mr Raab was accused of a ‘dereliction of duty’. Sir Keir taunted the Foreign Secretary as he told MPs: ‘You cannot co-ordinate an international response from the beach.’
Pictured: Women filmed pleading with US troops that the ‘Taliban are coming’ in footage that appeared to have been taken at Kabul airport
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