Afghanistan: Evacuation flights resume at Kabul Airport as US Vice President Joe Biden defends the country’s withdrawal

A Western security official at the airport told Reuters that the number of civilians at the airport had thinned out, a day after chaotic scenes here in which US troops fired to disperse crowds and people clung to a US military transport plane as it taxied for take-off.

“The runway at Kabul International Airport has reopened. “I see planes landing and taking off,” said NATO’s civilian representative, Stefano Pontecorvo, on Twitter.

At least 12 military flights had taken off by the afternoon, according to a diplomat at the airport.

The Taliban agreed not to attack foreign forces as they leave as part of a troop withdrawal agreement signed by the United States last year.

On Sunday, US forces took control of the airport, the militants’ only way out of the country, capping off a dramatic week of advances across the country with their takeover of the capital without a fight.

Flights were halted for much of Monday (August 16) after at least five people were killed, according to witnesses, though it was unclear whether they were shot or crushed in a stampede.
According to media reports, two people died after falling from the underside of a U.S. military plane after it took off, crashing to their deaths on the roofs of homes below.
According to a US official, US troops killed two gunmen who appeared to have fired into the airport crowd.

Despite the chaos in Kabul, US President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw US forces after the country’s longest war, which he described as costing more than $1 trillion.

However, a video released on Monday of hundreds of desperate Afghans attempting to clamber onto a U.S. military plane as it was about to take off may come back to haunt the US, just as a photograph taken in 1975 of people scrambling to get on a helicopter on the roof of a building in Saigon became emblematic of the humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam.

Biden insisted that he had to choose between asking US forces to fight in what he called Afghanistan’s civil war indefinitely or honouring a withdrawal agreement negotiated by his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump.

“I fully support my decision,” Biden said. “After 20 years of experience, I’ve learned the hard way that there is never a good time to withdraw US forces. That is why we are still present.”

Facing a barrage of criticism, including from his own diplomats, he blamed the Taliban’s takeover on the departure of Afghan political leaders and the army’s unwillingness to fight.

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s major cities in days, rather than the months predicted by US intelligence, in many cases after demoralised government forces surrendered despite years of training and equipping by the US and others.

The Taliban launched their offensive in the spring, launching a barrage of attacks on government positions in the countryside and carrying out targeted killings in cities.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, over 40,000 people were injured by weapons in June, July, and August, with 7,600 of them treated since Aug. 1.

According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the hasty withdrawal of US troops had a “serious negative impact here,” and Wang pledged to work with Washington to promote stability.

U.S. forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of this month as part of a deal struck with the Taliban in exchange for their promise not to allow Afghanistan to be used for international terrorism.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab emphasised the Taliban pledge, saying that while Afghanistan should never be used to launch attacks, the West must be pragmatic in its relations with the Taliban and try to be a positive influence.

President Ashraf Ghani left the country on Sunday as Islamist militants stormed Kabul, citing a desire to avoid bloodshed.

The same day, 640 Afghans crammed into a US C-17 transport plane to fly to Qatar, according to a photo taken inside the plane.

After Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of “chilling” curbs on human rights and violations against women and girls, the United Nations Security Council called for talks to form a new government in Afghanistan.

Women were not allowed to work during their reign, which lasted from 1996 to 2001, and punishments such as public stoning, whipping, and hanging were used.

Former Afghan faction commander and prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said he would travel to Doha to meet with Taliban officials, as would former President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister and peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, stated that the group would respect the rights of women and minorities “as per Afghan norms and Islamic values.”

Many Afghans, however, are sceptical and fear arrests of anti-Taliban politicians and activists.

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