| | [[File:Baby at Kabul airport.PNG|right|350px|thumb|Baby found abandoned at the Kabul airport.<ref>https://www.ptcnews.tv/afghanistan-infant-found-crying-in-abandoned-condition-at-kabul-airport</ref>]] | | [[File:Baby at Kabul airport.PNG|right|350px|thumb|Baby found abandoned at the Kabul airport.<ref>https://www.ptcnews.tv/afghanistan-infant-found-crying-in-abandoned-condition-at-kabul-airport</ref>]] |
| − | Panic ensued as the Kabul airport was flooded with people fleeing the Taliban terror. Some people were stampeded to death.<ref>https://www.the-sun.com/news/3479109/taliban-jalalabad-afghanistan-kabul-uk-troops-2-2/</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported about the dangerous road thousands of people face trying to get to the Kabul airport: “There were volleys of rifle fire, along with pushing, pulling and beating with wooden sticks, Kalashnikovs and hoses.”<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/18/world/asia/kabul-airport-afghanistan-maps.html</ref> At the airport, “in desperate scenes, babies were passed to U.S. soldiers in the hope of giving them a life outside the country,” ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/aug/19/children-passed-over-the-walls-of-kabul-airport-amid-evacuation-chaos-video</ref> Tens of thousands of Afghans lined up outside the airport in the hopes of finding a way out.<ref>https://www.businessinsider.com/video-people-crushed-to-death-at-kabul-airport-thousands-flee-taliban-2021-8?op=1</ref> Three young men clung to the tires of an airplane, only to fall on top of people's houses once the plane was airborne.<ref>https://twitter.com/AsvakaNews/status/1427172720446373892</ref> Remains of a fourth body were found crushed inside the wheel well upon landing.<ref>https://notthebee.com/article/shockingly-awful-video-shows-afghan-mans-body-dangling-from-wheel-well-of-c-17</ref> People died after being crushed or succumbing to sweltering temperatures in the crowds outside the airport gate as individuals and families sought refuge from the Taliban.<ref>https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/matt-frei/women-at-kabul-airport-crushed-fleeing-taliban/</ref> [[UK]] ''Independent'' journalist Kim Sengupta saw four women crushed to death in the space of about an hour, in the crush as Afghans scrambled to leave the Taliban-controlled country.<ref>https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/matt-frei/women-at-kabul-airport-crushed-fleeing-taliban/</ref> ''[[Sky News]]'' chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay saw people crushed to death, medics check their vital signs and then cover the bodies in white sheets.<ref>https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15927269/afghanistan-kabul-airport-crush-taliban/</ref> A heartbroken mother found her 2-year-old daughter trampled to death.<ref>https://nypost.com/2021/08/22/fatal-stampede-outside-kabul-airport-takes-place-as-people-attempt-to-flee/</ref> A heartbroken mother found her 2-year-old daughter trampled to death.<ref>https://nypost.com/2021/08/22/fatal-stampede-outside-kabul-airport-takes-place-as-people-attempt-to-flee/</ref> Biden told ABC’s [[George Stephanopoulos]] "no one's being killed right now."<ref>https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/08/26/biden-last-week-nobody-is-being-killed-n2594798</ref> On August 26, 2021, two suicide bombs went off outside the Kabul airport, killing about 60 people including 12 American soldiers and injuring more than 100. One was a car bomb about 200 yards away, outside the Baron hotel, which was a staging area for evacuees from the airport.<ref>https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2021/0826/Islamic-State-says-it-was-behind-suicide-attacks-at-Kabul-airport</ref> [[ISIS-K]] claimed responsibility. An [[Italian]] [[C-130]] also came under fire as it departed the airport.<ref>https://therightscoop.com/breaking-c-130-comes-under-fire-as-it-leaves-kabul-airport-also-reports-of-explosion-outside-airport-gate/</ref> A translator for the [[U.S. Marine Corps]] spoke with Fox News and gave a first-hand account of what he witnessed after the suicide attack.His 5-year-old girl died in his hands.<ref>https://100percentfedup.com/breaking-baby-girl-died-right-in-my-hands-witness-of-afghan-explosion-tells-what-he-saw-after-suicide-bomb-at-the-airport/</ref> | + | Panic ensued as the Kabul airport was flooded with people fleeing the Taliban terror. Some people were stampeded to death.<ref>https://www.the-sun.com/news/3479109/taliban-jalalabad-afghanistan-kabul-uk-troops-2-2/</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported about the dangerous road thousands of people face trying to get to the Kabul airport: “There were volleys of rifle fire, along with pushing, pulling and beating with wooden sticks, Kalashnikovs and hoses.”<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/18/world/asia/kabul-airport-afghanistan-maps.html</ref> At the airport, “in desperate scenes, babies were passed to U.S. soldiers in the hope of giving them a life outside the country,” ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/aug/19/children-passed-over-the-walls-of-kabul-airport-amid-evacuation-chaos-video</ref> Tens of thousands of Afghans lined up outside the airport in the hopes of finding a way out.<ref>https://www.businessinsider.com/video-people-crushed-to-death-at-kabul-airport-thousands-flee-taliban-2021-8?op=1</ref> Three young men clung to the tires of an airplane, only to fall on top of people's houses once the plane was airborne.<ref>https://twitter.com/AsvakaNews/status/1427172720446373892</ref> Remains of a fourth body were found crushed inside the wheel well upon landing.<ref>https://notthebee.com/article/shockingly-awful-video-shows-afghan-mans-body-dangling-from-wheel-well-of-c-17</ref> |
| − | With 40,000 Americans stranded,<ref>https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/breaking-afghanistan-hannity-reports-10000-many-40000-americans-trapped-inside-afghanistan-taliban-blocking-access-airport-video/</ref> embassy personnel in Kabul were apprised by the State Department to leave the embassy and make their way to the airport. Staffers reported being jostled, hit, spat on and cursed at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints near the airport. Some staff members reported that they were almost separated from their children, while others collapsed in a crush of people and had to be taken to hospitals with injuries. Others said they had collapsed on the road because of heat exhaustion. “It would be better to die under the Taliban’s bullet” than face the crowds again, a staff member was quoted as saying in a State Department cable. “Happy to die here, but with dignity and pride," according to ''[[NBC News]]''.<ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/afghan-staff-u-s-embassy-losing-faith-evacuation-efforts-diplomatic-n1277397</ref> A heart-wrenching audio clip of a stranded American woman in fear for her life was posted to social media.<ref>https://therightscoop.com/heartbreaking-audio-of-american-woman-trapped-in-afghanistan-begging-for-biden-to-help-her/</ref> | + | People died after being crushed or succumbing to sweltering temperatures in the crowds outside the airport gate as individuals and families sought refuge from the Taliban.<ref>https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/matt-frei/women-at-kabul-airport-crushed-fleeing-taliban/</ref> [[UK]] ''Independent'' journalist Kim Sengupta saw four women crushed to death in the space of about an hour, in the crush as Afghans scrambled to leave the Taliban-controlled country.<ref>https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/matt-frei/women-at-kabul-airport-crushed-fleeing-taliban/</ref> ''[[Sky News]]'' chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay saw people crushed to death, medics check their vital signs and then cover the bodies in white sheets.<ref>https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15927269/afghanistan-kabul-airport-crush-taliban/</ref> A heartbroken mother found her 2-year-old daughter trampled to death.<ref>https://nypost.com/2021/08/22/fatal-stampede-outside-kabul-airport-takes-place-as-people-attempt-to-flee/</ref> A heartbroken mother found her 2-year-old daughter trampled to death.<ref>https://nypost.com/2021/08/22/fatal-stampede-outside-kabul-airport-takes-place-as-people-attempt-to-flee/</ref> Biden told ABC’s [[George Stephanopoulos]] "no one's being killed right now."<ref>https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/08/26/biden-last-week-nobody-is-being-killed-n2594798</ref> On August 26, 2021, two suicide bombs went off outside the Kabul airport, killing about 60 people including 12 American soldiers and injuring more than 100. One was a car bomb about 200 yards away, outside the Baron hotel, which was a staging area for evacuees from the airport.<ref>https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2021/0826/Islamic-State-says-it-was-behind-suicide-attacks-at-Kabul-airport</ref> [[ISIS-K]] claimed responsibility. An [[Italian]] [[C-130]] also came under fire as it departed the airport.<ref>https://therightscoop.com/breaking-c-130-comes-under-fire-as-it-leaves-kabul-airport-also-reports-of-explosion-outside-airport-gate/</ref> A translator for the [[U.S. Marine Corps]] spoke with Fox News and gave a first-hand account of what he witnessed after the suicide attack.His 5-year-old girl died in his hands.<ref>https://100percentfedup.com/breaking-baby-girl-died-right-in-my-hands-witness-of-afghan-explosion-tells-what-he-saw-after-suicide-bomb-at-the-airport/</ref> |
| | + | With 40,000 Americans stranded,<ref>https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/breaking-afghanistan-hannity-reports-10000-many-40000-americans-trapped-inside-afghanistan-taliban-blocking-access-airport-video/</ref> embassy personnel in Kabul were apprised by the State Department to leave the embassy and make their way to the airport. Staffers reported being jostled, hit, spat on and cursed at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints near the airport. Some staff members reported that they were almost separated from their children, while others collapsed in a crush of people and had to be taken to hospitals with injuries. Others said they had collapsed on the road because of heat exhaustion. “It would be better to die under the Taliban’s bullet” than face the crowds again, a staff member was quoted as saying in a State Department cable. “Happy to die here, but with dignity and pride," according to ''[[NBC News]]''.<ref>https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/afghan-staff-u-s-embassy-losing-faith-evacuation-efforts-diplomatic-n1277397</ref> A heart-wrenching audio clip of a stranded American woman in fear for her life was posted to social media.<ref>https://therightscoop.com/heartbreaking-audio-of-american-woman-trapped-in-afghanistan-begging-for-biden-to-help-her/</ref> At least 24 students from [[San Diego]] school district and 16 parents had tickets to fly out but were not able to get to the airport.<ref>https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students-from-cajon-valley-school-district-stranded-in-afghanistan?utm_id=36108&sfmc_id=4509190</ref> |