Filenews 16 August 2021
The US military assigned to guard Kabul's international airport fired shots into the air this morning to repel thousands of Afghans who had entered the airport runways. The country is renamed the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan"
Citizens in their desperate attempt to leave the country after the Taliban movement seized power, an eyewitness said. Indicative of the current situation are images circulating, with people hanging from planes in a desperate attempt to leave the country.
"The crowd was out of control," the official told Reuters news agency, adding that the U.S. Marines tasked with guarding the airport "fired only to prevent chaos" as afghan citizens tried to get into U.S. military aircraft.
Thousands of Afghans have flocked to Hamid Karzai airport in their desperate attempt to leave the country, as Islamist Taliban rebels occupied most of Kabul last Sunday. Nearly 6,000 U.S. military personnel, according to the State Department, are guarding the airport through which members of diplomatic delegations and citizens of various countries, as well as Afghan workers at foreign embassies, are evacuating from Afghanistan.
Testimony about a dead girl
The information that the US soldiers opened fire was reported earlier by the French Agency citing an eyewitness.
"I'm terrified. They shot into the air. I saw a young girl crushed and dying" as she was trampled by the crowd, the eyewitness told The French Agency.
More than 60 governments call for foreigners to leave safely
The governments of more than 60 countries in a joint statement stress that Afghans and foreigners who want to leave Afghanistan must be allowed to depart safely and that airports and border crossings must continue to operate normally.
The joint declaration was made public by the State Department.
The governments of the US and 60 other countries, including Greece, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and the UK stress in this text that "those in positions of power" in Afghanistan bear "the responsibility" and will "give reason" for the "protection of human life and property" and call for an "immediate restoration of security and public order".
The joint declaration adds that "the Afghan people deserve to live in safety and dignity" and "we in the international community remain ready to help them."
