Germany says shootout involving Western forces broke out at Kabul airport

KABUL / WASHINGTON, Aug.23 (Reuters) – A shootout erupted between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at Kabul airport on Monday, German armed forces said, as thousands of Afghans and foreigners thronged at the airport, seeking to flee the Taliban regime.

An Afghan guard was killed and three others were wounded in the battle at the airport’s north gate, which involved US and German forces, the German military said on Twitter.

While the Taliban have deployed fighters outside the airport, where they have tried to help enforce some sort of order, Afghan guards are helping US forces inside the airport.

CNN reported that a sniper outside the airport shot Afghan guards inside the facility and they retaliated, but US forces retaliated against the Afghan guards.

Two NATO officials at the airport said the situation was under control and all airport doors had been closed.

The airport has been in chaos since the Taliban captured the capital on August 15 as US and international forces attempt to evacuate vulnerable citizens and Afghans.

Taliban fighters pushed back crowds at the airport on Sunday a day after seven Afghans were killed in a crash at the gates as the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops approached.

Foreign forces in Afghanistan have not sought to extend the Aug.31 deadline for leaving, a Taliban official said, after President Joe Biden said US troops could stay longer to oversee a “hard and heavy evacuation. painful “.

The Taliban seized power just over a week ago as the United States and its allies withdrew their troops after a 20-year war launched in the weeks following the attacks of September 11, 2001, when US forces were hunting down Al Qaeda leaders and seeking to punish their Taliban. hosts.

The administration of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump struck a deal with the Taliban last year allowing the United States to withdraw its forces in exchange for security guarantees from the Taliban.

Foreign forces were working towards the late August departure deadline and had not sought to extend it, a senior legal adviser to the Taliban leadership told Reuters on Monday.

Biden said on Sunday that the security situation in Afghanistan was changing rapidly and remained dangerous.

“Be clear, the evacuation of thousands of people from Kabul is going to be difficult and painful,” and would have been “regardless of when it started,” Biden said at a White House briefing.

“We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong.”

Biden said he asked the State Department to contact stranded Americans.

“We are executing a plan to move groups of these Americans to safety and to move them safely and efficiently to the airport compound … I repeat today what I said before: any American who wants going home will get home. “

Western Afghan allies and vulnerable Afghans such as activists and journalists would also be helped, he said.

CIVIL AIRCRAFT

Panicked Afghans have been clamoring to board flights from Kabul, fearing retaliation and a return to a harsh version of Islamic law that the Sunni Muslim group implemented when it held power.

The United States on Sunday asked for help from six commercial airlines to transport people after they were evacuated from Afghanistan. Biden said those fleeing Afghanistan were assisted by more than two dozen countries on four continents.

Japan said it will send a military plane to Afghanistan on Monday to bring back its citizens. Further flights are expected to repatriate Japanese citizens as well as Afghans working at the Japanese embassy or with Japanese missions, a government spokesperson said.

A UN flight carried 120 people from Kabul to Kazakhstan on Sunday, a UN spokesperson said. The passengers included UN staff and members of non-governmental organizations working with the United Nations in Afghanistan, he said, adding that this was the second such flight in a week.

OPPOSITION

Taliban leaders, who have sought to show a more moderate face since the capture of Kabul, have started talks on forming a government.

They face opposition from forces in northern Afghanistan, who over the weekend said they had captured three districts near the Panjshir Valley, a former stronghold of Taliban opponents.

Anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Sunday he hoped to have talks with the Islamist movement, but his forces in Panjshir – remnants of army, special forces and militia units – were ready to withdraw. to beat.

“We want to make the Taliban understand that the only way forward is negotiation,” he said. “We don’t want a war to break out.”

The Taliban said hundreds of their fighters were heading towards the Panjshir, showing a video on Twitter of a column of captured trucks bearing the Taliban’s white flag but still bearing government markings on a highway.

But overall, peace has prevailed in recent days.

Reuters spoke to eight doctors at hospitals in several cities who said they had not heard of any violence or killed in clashes since Thursday.

Reporting from the Kabul office, Rupam Jain, Caroline Copley, Michelle Nichols, Simon Lewis, Ju-min Park; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.