Flights resume from Kabul airport as people scramble to leave Afghanistan

Evacuation flights resumed from Kabul’s international airport Tuesday after a frenzied and panic-filled day that saw thousands of Afghans swarm the tarmac, including some who fell off departing planes in desperate attempts to get out of Afghanistan. Images from Hamid Karzai International and shared on social media and news outlets stunned the world, as evacuation flights took off with locals still clinging onto aircraft wheels.

The crowds, who were trying to flee the country a day after Kabul fell to the Taliban, have thinned out, reports say, though the ability to leave the country remains very limited for most Afghans, who face an uncertain future.

“The situation is stabilizing but obviously we are monitoring it very carefully,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News on Tuesday. “I do think that the airport is more stable today than it was yesterday, and we need to make sure that we consolidate that in the days ahead.” Raab said there were 600 extra personnel there among a surge of U.K. and U.S. troops sent in to ensure the evacuation of diplomatic staff. He also said Afghans who had helped U.K. forces were being evacuated as well.

The U.K. evacuated 150 British nationals on Sunday as well as “289 of those Afghan nationals who have served the U.K. so loyally in Afghanistan,” over the last week, he said, adding that he expected over the next 24 hours “to have 350 more British nationals and Afghan nationals who have worked for us coming out.”

Flights resume from Kabul airport as people scramble to leave Afghanistan, CNBC, Aug 17