Afghans caught in the chaos engulfing Kabul airport have described how victims have been shot and brutally beaten by Taliban militants and trampled to death in the melee, as US military jets make diving combat landings amid fears of a terror attack by so-called Islamic State.
An Afghan family said they had seen more than 15 people including children shot dead, night-time crowd surges outside the airport gates and people killed in the stampede as they pleaded: 'Please, get us out of here. The situation is very bad, we are trapped in a hell.'
A NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters at least 20 people have been killed in the past seven days in and around Kabul airport during the evacuation effort. The British Ministry of Defense earlier said said Afghans had died while trying to flee the Taliban.
The withdrawal has strained relations between Britain and the US, with Tony Blair - who was in Downing Street when London sent troops into Afghanistan 20 years ago in the wake of 9/11 - accusing Joe Biden of deciding to pull out with 'little or no consultation', branding the move 'imbecilic'.
An Afghan woman called Sara, who asked for her real name not to be used, told the Observer how families with US visas, US passports and green cards were not able to reach their evacuation flights or get any information about their fate as the Taliban block all access points to Kabul airport.
US military planes have been making rapid, diving combat landings at Kabul airport, while aircraft have fired flares on take-off, in a bid to confuse possible heat-seeking missiles amid a new, perceived threat from the Islamic State group affiliate in Afghanistan.
Sara said: 'It's so scary here. There's horror in everyone's eyes. No one is allowed through, even with visas.
'No one from the US is helping us. No one is telling us which gate to go to - we don't even know when the US flights are leaving. There is violence everywhere but every gate we go to is closed and no one gives us any information or shows any mercy.'
A close family friend based in the US added: 'The US have told them they can be evacuated, but only if they can get through an airport gate. But every day they have gone to the airport it's been so crowded and violent, it's not been possible to get the family through without a huge risk to their lives.'
The situation around Kabul airport has taken a turn for the worse, with the Independent reporting that four Afghan women were crushed to death on Saturday - and perhaps as many as 12 killed in total - as they sought to access the airfield where military repatriation flights are leaving from.
There were further worrying reports about the treatment of Britons and Afghans who supported the 20-year intervention who are trying to escape. Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy shared a letter on social media that she had sent Mr Raab about the 'crisis' facing evacuees, as she sought additional assistance for those on the ground.
The senior Opposition figure said Labour MPs had been hearing of people being 'shot at, beaten and raped' while they wait to be called forward at the airport, while the Baron Hotel in the city, where many British nationals are being told to travel to for processing, is being blockaded by the Taliban.
Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul has been the focal point for thousands trying to flee the Taliban, who seized power after sweeping into the capital a week ago following their astonishing lightning advance across the Middle Eastern country.
The Taliban on Sunday blamed the United States for the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans and foreigners from the capital, one week after the hardline Islamist group returned to power in a rapid victory that stunned the world.
The MoD confirmed that the Operation Pitting evacuation mission is being supported by 1,000 British troops - including Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade - with nearly 4,000 people repatriated from Afghanistan since August 13.
It comes as the Defence Secretary, in what is likely to be read as a plea to Washington, said 'no nation will be able to get everyone out' of the Taliban-controlled country, with the US president's August 31 target date making the rescue mission even more time pressured.
Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Mr Wallace said: 'If the US timetable remains, we have no time to lose to get the majority of the people waiting out. Perhaps the Americans will be permitted to stay longer, and they will have our complete support if they do.'
According to the Sunday Times, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab - who is facing calls to resign over his decision to remain on holiday while Afghanistan collapsed - is seeking to speak to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss extending the end-of-the-month deadline.
The 900 British troops cannot remain without the logistical support of the 6,000 US soldiers in Kabul and will have to finish the evacuation before that point to allow enough time to secure their own safe exit.
Mr Wallace confirmed there were 'too many people in the airport' on Saturday, forcing the US side of the operation to suspend access. A MoD spokeswoman stressed that neither UK flights nor processing were affected by the pause, however.
US citizens were yesterday warned not to go to the airport amid fears that they might be hijacked en route by militants. The State Department said the US side of the airport would close for 48 hours. The British section remained open.
Sir Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador to Afghanistan who has stayed in the capital to help process applications, said the rescue effort was 'without a doubt the biggest international challenge I have worked on as a diplomat'.
In other dramatic developments:
- Mr Raab was accused of defying an order from No 10 to return early from his holiday as the crisis escalated. However, allies of Mr Raab said Boris Johnson had given him permission to remain;
- Tony Blair branded the 'abandonment of Afghanistan and its people' as 'tragic and dangerous';
- Sources claimed that the Prime Minister felt 'betrayed' by Joe Biden over the Afghan withdrawal – although No 10 denied there are any tensions between the two;
- One source even claimed the President, 78, was 'a bit doolally';
- Taliban leaders Mullah Baradar and Siraj Haqqani arrived in Kabul to form a new government;
- UK hate preacher Anjem Choudary urged the Taliban to restore full Islamic justice, including stoning adulterers;
- The Home Office was scrambling to make the Taliban a proscribed group in an attempt to dissuade British jihadis from heading to Afghanistan;
- Britons in Kabul said the city was running out of food and money;
- Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, called the crisis the 'greatest challenge' of his 30-year career;
- Thousands rallied in London in protest at the Government's handling of the crisis;
- The Minister with responsibility for Afghanistan, Lord Ahmad, was reported to be on holiday when the Taliban seized Kabul.
Hundreds of Afghans desperately trying to flee the Taliban are pictured outside Kabul airport
Afghans trying to flee (pictured: Chaos at Kabul airport yesterday) to Britain to escape the Taliban will have to make their own way to the borders if the Americans do not delay the date for leaving the country, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace declares today
In a powerfully emotive article for The Mail on Sunday, Mr Wallace warns that time is 'ticking along, impossible to stop' towards the imminent end of the UK's mission to rescue thousands of Afghans entitled to come to the UK. Pictured: Afghans attempt to get into Kabul airport yesterday
Evacuations have been underway in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country on August 13 after American troops were pulled from the country
Members of the British and US military engage in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday
Meanwhile, the British Foreign Office released images showing British Ambassador to Kabul Sir Laurie Bristow processing applications - images which contrast sharply with the reality of the chaos engulfing Kabul airport
A second image show British Ambassador to Kabul Sir Laurie speaking to a British soldier - an image which contrasts sharply with the reality of the chaos engulfing Kabul airport
Mr Wallace (pictured right) makes a veiled plea for Washington (pictured left: US President Joe Biden) to delay the US leaving date beyond August 31, writing: 'Perhaps the Americans will be permitted to stay longer and they will have our complete support if they do'
Beneath a fierce late-morning sun, crowds parted to reveal women's lifeless bodies and then, rising above the chaotic hubbub, the piercing screams of their children
A baby is handed over to the American army over the perimeter wall of the airport for it to be evacuated, in Kabul
Paratroopers tried to pull people from the chaos, and stood atop compound walls, spraying the crowd with hoses to try and cool them down, as medics dashed between casualties
At least four women are thought to have died in what witnesses called a 'horrendous crush'. Pictured: Soldiers cover up the bodies of those who died yesterday
A soldier gives one of the locals at the airport a bottle of water, as many struggled in chaotic scenes at the airport today
A U.S. Navy Corpsman with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command, hands out water to children during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport
An evacuee holds up a peace sign after being manifested for a flight at Hamid Karzai International Airport
A Pakistani paramilitary soldier, right, and Taliban fighters stand guard on their respective sides at a border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in Torkham, in Khyber district, Pakistan
A Pakistani paramilitary soldier indicates direction to Afghan nationals at a border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan
The 19th century struggle for power in Afghanistan between the UK and Tsarist Russia was called the Great Game. As the US and the UK pull its troops and the Taliban retake control by force, who will Afghanistan's new leaders cosy-up with? Turkey, the only Muslim-majority member of Nato, could benefit, partly because it can control the flow of Afghan refugees into Europe. The mullahs in Iran are delighted by the departure of the US and will recognise the new Kabul regime. Russia will also be pleased to see the US leave, but has its own concerns about Islamic extremism. China and Pakistan have also made early noises of support, while Qatar hosted Taliban leaders in its capital Doha since 2013. However India is dismayed by the Taliban's victory. Here Michael Burleigh looks at where each countries vested interests lie, and which countries will be happy and who will be angry at the Taliban takeover
According to the MoD, 3,821 British and Afghan nationals have been evacuated from Kabul, where 1,000 British troops are based. About 3,500 people are still waiting to be airlifted.
Last night, an MoD source said the announcement about the refugee centres was intended to display 'honesty' about the thousands of British allies likely to be left behind.
While acknowledging that 'no nation will be able to get everyone out', Mr Wallace also announces that a series of 'processing hubs' will be set up in countries neighbouring Afghanistan for refugees who manage to escape. If they can establish their right to come to the UK, they will be flown to Britain.
The MoD is looking at establishing hubs in countries such as Pakistan and Turkey - but, startlingly, is also exploring whether the Taliban might allow the UK to retain a 'presence' in Kabul after the Americans have gone.
In his article today, Mr Wallace says that the collapse of Afghanistan has been 'an exhausting, worrying and demanding time', and warns that 'the distressing exit of the West will have consequences for us all for years to come'.
He says: 'The Parachute Regiment at the airport are dealing with unimaginable challenges. Public order, overcrowding, searing heat and desperate people. Soldiers trained for war are instead holding babies and co-ordinating crowds.'
The Minister adds: 'Too many people in the airport has meant a suspension of access. I am confident that too will be fixed or mitigated but until it is, the crowds will get bigger.
'And ticking along, impossible to stop, is time. I have said all along that no nation will be able to get everyone out.
'It is a source of deep sadness for many of us across Nato and no one wanted 20 years of sacrifice to end this way. We will do our best to the very last moment. But it isn't the end.
'The Home Secretary and I have been planning the next stage… we will establish a series of processing hubs across the region outside of Afghanistan for those Afghans we have an obligation to bring to this country.'
Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Home Secretary Priti Patel is scrambling to proscribe the Taliban as a terrorist group amid fears that hundreds of British jihadis will head to Afghanistan to join and live under the Islamist regime.
The Home Office is now looking urgently to ban the group which has avoided proscription so far, even though the Taliban has harboured terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and killed 456 British troops in Afghanistan over the past two decades.
If an organisation is on the Government's list of proscribed groups, it becomes a criminal offence for anyone in Britain to join or even support it, punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
If the situation remains as it is, Ministers fear that British jihadis could join and train under the regime then escape prosecution on their return to Britain.
Sources have told the MoS that Ms Patel is 'livid' that the Taliban in Afghanistan has not been banned already. A source said last night: 'The fault doesn't lie with Priti. It goes far back, as no previous Home Secretary has bothered to ban it.'
A Government source told the MoS that MI5 and counter-terrorism units are preparing for the possibility of British jihadis travelling to Afghanistan.
'Some will go and train under the Taliban and may come back to launch attacks,' said the source. Others may take their families with them and live under the Taliban's Islamic government.'
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