Al Jazeera Net at Kabul Airport... Leaving for fear of the Taliban or to take advantage of the opportunity?

Kabul -

After President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani left and the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital, the world and Afghans alike turned their attention to Hamid Karzai International Airport in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Over the past days, chaos and security tension prevailed at the airport, causing the deaths of at least 19 people, including women and children, after thousands of Afghans gathered in an effort to get out of the country.

American and Afghan forces and Taliban militants were forced to shoot in the air to disperse the crowds in the vicinity of the airport, and the American forces used tear gas and rubber bullets in front of the airport's military gate.

In a surreal scene, the US and Turkish forces and Taliban militants participated in securing the vicinity of Kabul Airport, both civil and military, and the airport became a link between the conflicting parties.

But despite the military presence at the airport entrance, the loss of control prevailed, with crowds of Afghans arriving.

The vicinity of the airport witnessed coordination between the Taliban and the American forces prior to the fall of the capital, Kabul, as part of an agreement that the movement’s gunmen would not approach the Green Zone, the American embassy and the airport, but when the situation in its vicinity collapsed, the movement sent its gunmen there.

to defame the Taliban

Taliban sources attribute the chaos in the Kabul airport area for five days to US and foreign forces.

A source in the movement told Al-Jazeera Net, "The United States and foreign embassies are a major reason for this chaos in front of the military airport, deliberately discrediting the Taliban."

According to the source, "American and foreign forces want to tell the world, 'Look at the Afghan people, especially the young people. They don't want the Taliban back. All those who leave Afghanistan see their future with foreigners'."

While we were at the eastern gate of Kabul International Airport, we asked an American soldier how he perceived the presence of a Taliban gunman close to him?

"I don't like him, but I have to deal with the Taliban so we can control the situation here," he said.

Because of the chaos and security tension in the vicinity of the airport, 3 women died here, and while she was at the airport, Afghani Maryam Toukhi told Al Jazeera Net, "I want to leave Afghanistan after Taliban militants entered the capital, Kabul, because I lost everything, my future and my dreams. The Taliban do not give women the right to Work and study, I have to think of a new place where I enjoy my right to education and work.”

Because of the Afghan rush to the airport, the US forces allocated their flights to those who hold foreign passports or travel papers approved by the embassies.

According to a source at the airport, foreigners are evacuated daily through 10 flights on military planes.

As for the Afghan contractors, they are transferred to a third country as a necessary step to secure their lives, and they have to wait for the next station without a specific date.

For the first time, Afghans were able to enter the airport easily, because government forces evacuated all security barriers in conjunction with the entry of Taliban militants to the capital, hoping to leave the country.

Here, thousands sleep on the runway, until a German plane was forced to fly over the airport for more than an hour, and because of the chaos on the runway, it returned to its country without landing.

The writer and political researcher Hikmat Jalil told Al Jazeera Net, "Young people who hope to leave Afghanistan see this as an opportunity for asylum and migration to European countries. It is not only about the return of the Taliban, because the situation before its arrival in the capital was not rosy, as young people suffer from unemployment and poverty. and insecurity.”

But besides that, Jalil says, "there are ethnic minorities who want to leave the country for security reasons, because they do not trust the Taliban's promises that they will not touch the spectrum of Afghan society."

Turkish nationals being evacuated from Kabul Airport via a Turkish plane (Anadolu Agency)

Asylum to 26 countries

Al Jazeera Net reviewed the list of countries that announced granting asylum to Afghans, which are 26 countries, including Israel, which announced for the first time granting asylum to Afghans.

In addition to the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan and others.

An Afghan journalist, who preferred not to be named, told Al Jazeera Net, "I arrived two days ago at the US army base in California. The situation here is very dire, as the primary services are not available. I am now thinking about leaving the camp, but the American authorities do not allow and we do not know when we will get out of the camp." .

He added that he regretted leaving the country so quickly.

An Afghan official working at the airport with US forces told Al Jazeera Net that "the United States wants to evacuate between 10 thousand and 15 thousand Americans, and about 60 thousand Afghans from Afghanistan, until the end of this August."

Naseer Raheen, an employee of the Afghan National Security Council, arrived Thursday in France.

He told Al-Jazeera Net, "I decided to leave on the eve of the entry of Taliban militants to Kabul, and when all flights were canceled, I returned to the French embassy and stayed there for 3 days because of the chaos at the airport. After effort and fatigue, my wife and daughter were able to reach Paris."

A hostage will stay in a refugee camp for 10 days, "due to the precautionary measures to confront Corona", before being transferred, as scheduled, to a hotel, provided that the French government gives him a home.

"It is true that I arrived in Paris, but my heart is with my mother and father in Kabul, I do not know what fate awaits them," Raheen added.

No control yet

Kabul Airport was established in the 1960s, and was used by the Soviet army during the Soviet-Afghan war between 1979 and 1989. After the Soviets withdrew, the Afghan army regained management of the airport's affairs.

In November 1996, the Taliban movement took control of the airport while taking control of the country, which continued until the coalition forces invaded the country in 2001. But this time, despite the Taliban entering the capital, Kabul, it has not yet been able to control the airport.

Kabul International Airport has two parts, the first is the civilian part, which is the gateway for Afghans to the world.

From there, planes take off daily to Turkey, the Emirates, Pakistan, Iran, Kuwait, Central Asia and Russia.

As for the northern part of the airport, it was prepared for use by the US Air Force in October 2008. It also included command and control centers for the Afghan Air Force, prior to the withdrawal of US and foreign forces from Afghanistan.

After the Taliban took control, the United States decided to send 3,000 soldiers to evacuate diplomats and collaborators who had worked with Washington for 20 years.

Currently, American, Turkish and British forces are deployed in and around the airport.

Six days after the Taliban took control of the capital, Kabul, the military part is still under the control of the US and Afghan forces.

The US forces managed to expel the Afghans from inside the airport, but tension and chaos prevailed at the eastern and northern entrances.

The Taliban conduct patrols to drive out the crowd, but hundreds of Afghans go daily to camps set up by British, Turkish and American forces near the airport in order to register to leave and verify their identity.