It has been two days since Zarmina, her husband, and their two children tried to get through tight security at Kabul airport to flee Afghanistan following the Taliban’s dramatic takeover of the capital and the group’s return to power.
Zarmina’s voice choked as she recalled events from the past few days, when “bullets rained on the tarmac,” as the US struggles to control the thousands thronging to Hamid Karzai International Airport in the hope of being evacuated.
As security officials aimed at the crowds to contain the chaos, the couple decided to head home to ensure the safety of their eight-month-old son and five-year-old daughter.
“Bullets were landing left and right,” Zarmina told Arab News on Sunday from outside the airport. “They even used tear gas to scatter the crowd, but no use. The baby was screaming, some people got injured before our eyes, we thought to leave before being killed or injured. I am too exhausted to speak because of what we went through. It is not worth going this way unless they sort out the growing chaos. You might get killed here at the airport, which is the most violent place in Afghanistan now, than by other possible dangers.”
As they waited for a taxi to take them home, news broke of seven people being killed in a stampede and from firing inside the airport, taking the death toll to 22 since Aug. 15, according to estimates provided to Arab News by an aviation source.
According to official statements and media reports, at least 28,000 people have been evacuated so far.
Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, welcomed the evacuation of Afghan nationals through separate bilateral programs but stressed an “urgent and wider international humanitarian response.”
“The vast majority of Afghans are not able to leave the country through regular channels,” she told a news briefing. “As of today, those who may be in danger have no clear way out.”
For security reasons, Zarmina refused to say which country her family was planning to move to.
However, as an employee of a Western organization, she is eligible to be evacuated. There is growing uncertainty and fear of the Taliban targeting Afghans who worked for US-led coalition nations, despite the group’s repeated assurances “not to seek revenge” and to provide “amnesty.”
On Sunday, the US and its allies sent fresh troops to Kabul airport to evacuate citizens, diplomats and thousands of Afghans who had worked for them since late 2001, when the Taliban was toppled in a US-led invasion.
Zarmina said families were suffering from the heat and lack of water and food inside the airport.
“It is like a small hell. I would describe it like committing suicide,” she said, adding that the rush to leave could be due to reports that the evacuation efforts would end on Aug. 31.
US officials have hinted they might extend the deadline, even as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Saturday that it was “mathematically impossible” to evacuate tens of thousands of their Afghan personnel and families by the end of this month.
Outside the airport, Taliban fighters failed to break up the crowds, as they and foreign troops occasionally fired into the air to disperse anyone without valid documents.
The group blames the US for the “disaster,” arguing it should have “never promised to evacuate” tens of thousands of Afghans in the first place “because they faced no threat from the new rulers.”
“The US is responsible for what is going on at the airport,” Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told Arab News. “When it cannot control the situation and the evacuation, why did it create hope for so many people? We have said these people will face no harm as we have announced an amnesty.”
On Saturday, the US warned its citizens to avoid the airport due to a “potential risk” from militant groups linked to Daesh.
With the security situation at the airport taking a turn for the worse with each passing day, another calamity appears to be brewing in the background.
The US has frozen Afghanistan’s $7 billion in reserves “to bar the Taliban from accessing the cash,” while the International Monetary Fund has blocked access to an emergency reserve worth $460 million.
Banks, too, have been closed since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, leading to a spike in the price of essential commodities and food items.