US controls Kabul airport and Taliban around it

After scenes of chaos on Monday with Afghans trying to flee the country, US troops have taken full control of the Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul while the Taliban, in an apparent non-aggression pact, protect the surrounding area for strengthen security.

“The crowd was kicked out last night and taken outside the compound of Kabul airport and now the situation is calm and under control,” an employee of the private Afghan airline Kam Air told EFE on Tuesday. .

He added that they expect Kam Air flights “to resume in the next two or three days.” However, commercial flights, especially domestic ones, have not yet been restored.

Calm has returned to the airport in the Afghan capital after thousands of people desperate to flee Afghanistan on Monday, the country’s first day under Taliban control, sparked chaos by trying to board flights from repatriation.

The tide of humans swept through the airport to reach the runway, where thousands more tried to board planes or prevent moving planes from taking off without them.

Right now, only airport employees and citizens with travel documents can enter the airport.

If someone tries to enter the civil part of the airport irregularly, Taliban fighters prevent it from outside.

Among the thousands of people who rushed to the airport were Afghans who have worked for US and NATO forces for the past twenty years, including those whose visa applications were turned down.

But most were people driven by rumors that Canada and the United States were evacuating all citizens arriving at the airport, even without a passport, visa or ticket.

At least six people, including a Taliban, were killed in the situation at the airport.

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The United States, which took over the terminal’s air traffic control, resumed military flights intended to repatriate US citizens, diplomatic personnel and thousands of Afghans and other countries who worked with their forces during the Twenty Year War against the Taliban.

“From this morning, military flights resumed,” a spokesman for US forces said on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban, who were trying to control crowds at the airport on Monday, withdrew near the airfield after a clash with US forces.

At this time, there is only the presence of Taliban fighters at the entrance to the civilian terminal, while the military zone is under the control of the Americans, through which enter the troops and Afghans who worked with the forces. of the coalition and that they obtained in particular. visas to leave the country.

In addition, a dozen Taliban checkpoints guard the streets leading to the capital’s airport, although fighters have not stopped traffic to the airport or questioned vehicle passengers.

The rapid advance of the Taliban, who successfully captured Kabul last Sunday ending the war, disrupted plans for international missions to evacuate their citizens from the country, but thefts began to resume and with them hundreds of foreigners and Afghans hope to leave. the country.

With information from the EFE

AFG