US troops fire shots in the air at Kabul airport as crowd mobs tarmac

KABUL: US troops fired shots into the air at Kabul airport on Monday (Aug 16) 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.

"The crowd was out of control," the official told Reuters by phone. "The firing was only done to defuse the chaos."

In a video filmed by eyewitness Jawid Sukhanyar, the sound of gunfire was heard and scores of panicked people, with young children among them, were seen running.

A police vehicle seen in the video was unmanned.

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

The US military secured the perimeter of Kabul airport on Sunday, with its troops in charge at the airport, helping in the evacuation of embassy staff and other civilians.

Hundreds of Afghans have crowded the airport trying to get out of the country after Taliban insurgents entered the capital.

Commercial flights set to land in Afghanistan have been affected by the chaos on the ground.

Emirates has suspended flights to Kabul until further notice, the airline said on its website. Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 showed few commercial flights over Afghanistan at 0300 GMT on Monday but many planes overflying neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.

More than 60 western countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, have issued a joint statement saying all Afghans and international citizens who wanted to leave the country must be allowed to depart.

The nearby Wazir Akbar Khan embassy district was deserted with almost all diplomats and their families either flown out of the city or at the airport awaiting a flight.

Government offices were also empty, residents said.

There were few guards left at the checkpoints in the usually heavily fortified area - some motorists were getting out of their cars to lift barriers at the checkpoints before driving through.

"It is strange to sit here and see empty streets, no more busy diplomatic convoys, big cars with guns mounted," said Gul Mohammed Hakim, one the city's ubiquitous naan (bread) makers who has a shop in the area.

"I will be here baking bread, but will earn very small amounts of money. The security guards who were my friends, they are gone."

He had no customers yet, said, and was still heating his tandoor (clay oven) in anticipation.

"My first concern was to grow my beard and how to grow it fast," Hakim added. "I also checked with my wife if there were enough burqas for her and the girls."

During the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, men were not permitted to trim their beards and women were required to wear the all-enveloping burqa cloak in public.