Afghanistan: Seven dead in new day of violence at Kabul airport | The drama of the thousands of Afghans who want to leave the country and the Taliban behind

In a new day of chaos and violence around Kabul airport, seven Afghan citizens have died trying to flee the country and the Taliban. Since taking control of the Afghan capital last Sunday, fundamentalist militias have left Hamid Karzai airport in the hands of the United States, which they now accuse of having “failed to bring order. “. The streets leading to the airfield are controlled by the Taliban, who shoot in the air and hit people with sticks and whips in an attempt to stop the crowds.. Meanwhile, many families wait huddled between the barbed wire that separates the insurgents from the American troops.

From Washington the president Joe Biden continues to defend the military withdrawal from Afghanistan and does not intend to move a comma from the original evacuation plan, while European Union (EU) deems “impossible” to evacuate everyone by August 31 deadline. For this reason the UK Ministry of Defense is promoting a extension of the withdrawal of American troops. To “ensure safe evacuations and prevent a humanitarian crisis” G7 leaders to hold virtual meeting on Tuesdayannounced British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who currently chairs the group.

“Dehydrated and terrified”

“Our condolences to the families of the seven Afghans who sadly died in the crowds in Kabul,” said Sunday. UK Ministry of Defense it is a statement. “The conditions at the site are extremely difficult, but we are doing everything we can to handle the situation as safely as possible. “added the wallet. Boris Johnson’s government was responsible for confirming the death toll in the Afghan capital.

Britain’s Sky News channel on Saturday broadcast images of at least three bodies covered in white canvas outside the airport and its ground reporter Stuart Ramsay said people were crushed while others lay “dehydrated and terrified”. These were the last images of the despair that is experienced in Afghan territory after the broadcast of the video of a baby delivered to a soldier on a wall at the airport and the horror scenes of people hanging from planes taking off. But this Sunday he joined the dramatic series of events an Afghan woman who gave birth in a US Air Force plane he was heading for the Ramstein base in Germany.

Although the Taliban movement tries to promise a milder version of its brutal 1996-2001 regime, thousands of terrified Afghans continue to try to flee the country through the airport.. A journalist evacuated on Sunday told AFP how desperate crowds surrounded the bus in which he was transported by Acceptance. “They were showing us their passports and shouting, ‘Take us with you, please!'”explained the press secretary, who added: “A Taliban fighter in a truck fired in the air to disperse them.”

Extend the evacuation time

Faced with the crisis around the airport, the British government has asked for an extension of the deadline the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan what is scheduled for August 31st. British Defense Minister Ben Wallace told the newspaper Mail on Sunday What “No nation can evacuate the whole world” from Afghanistan before the withdrawal of the US military.

The head of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep borrell, also entered the discussion with the Pentagon, warning: “They want to evacuate 60,000 people by the end of the month. It’s mathematically impossible.”. President Joe Biden said on Sunday that 33,000 people have been evacuated since operations began on August 14. Besides 18 civilian planes from American Airlines, Atlas, Delta, Omni, Hawaiian and United to assist dozens of military cargo ships who participate in the operation.

Among those already evacuated is an Afghan woman who gave birth on a plane as she was about to land at a military base in Germany. The mother and child are in good condition, the US Air Force said. The woman was flying from a Pentagon base in the Middle East to the US military base in Ramstein, Germany on Saturday when she began to experience contractions and “complications.” The ship’s captain “decided to descend to altitude to increase the pressure inside the plane, which saved the mother’s life.”added Air Mobility Command, one of the main commands of the US Air Force.

UNICEF and WHO humanitarian aid

In the midst of an increasingly worrying scenario in the region, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday requested an airlift to Kabul to “deliver drugs and other life-saving supplies.” Although in recent days the focus has been on major air operations to evacuate people, Afghanistan “was already the third largest humanitarian operation in the world with more than 18 million people in need of assistance” before the conquest of the Taliban last Sunday.

“As humanitarian needs increase in Afghanistan, the ability to meet those needs is rapidly diminishing. “, deplored the regional director of Unicef ​​for South Asia in a joint statement, Georges Laryea-Adjei, and the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Al Mandhari.