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KABUL / WASHINGTON – A shootout broke out between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at Kabul airport on Monday, German armed forces said, as thousands of Afghans and foreigners crowded at the airport, seeking to flee the Taliban regime.
An Afghan guard was killed and three others were wounded in the battle at the north gate of the airport, which involved US and German forces, the German army 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… Today I repeat what I said before: any American who wants going home will be going home. “
Western Afghan allies and vulnerable Afghans such as activists and journalists would also be helped, he said.
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