US troops fire shots in air at Kabul airport as crowd mobs tarmac, witness says

Fearful that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights, Afghans rushed to leave the country.

Afghans crowd at the tarmac of the Kabul airport on August 16, 2021, to flee the country as the Taliban were in control of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. (Photo | AFP)

KABUL: US troops fired shots into the air at Kabul airport on Monday as thousands of Afghans crowded onto the tarmac in the hope of catching a flight out of the country after the Taliban takeover of the country.

"I feel very scared here. They are firing lots of shots into the air," a witness told AFP. 

The US military has secured the perimeter of Kabul airport, the State Department said Sunday, August 15, 2021, adding that Washington's embassy in the Afghan capital has been completely evacuated.

"All embassy personnel are located on the premises of Hamid Karzai International Airport, whose perimeter is secured by the US Military," spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, hours after the Taliban took control of the city.

The United States lowered the flag on its embassy in Kabul and has relocated almost all staff to the airport. 

The United States has said that it would deploy as many as 6,000 of its troops at the Kabul airport to ensure the safe departure of its citizens and those from its friends and allies from Afghanistan which has now been taken over by the Taliban, in a sudden and unprecedented collapse of the elected regime led by President Ashraf Ghani.

WATCH | Taliban shuts Kabul airport as thousands try to flee Afghanistan desperately:

 (With PTI inputs)