Crowds of Afghans storm the Kabul International Airport tarmac; the video shows them trying to climb onboard a U.S. Air Force transport plane as it taxies down the runway.
The video was posted online from TOLO news (Afgan news outlet):
According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), thousands of Afghans crowded onto the tarmac, forcing U.S. troops to fire into the air to disperse them. All commercial flights were canceled by the airport on Sunday, following the Taliban’s arrival.
UK Parliament Member Tobias Ellwood’s video confirmed the desperate scene.
The utter chaos on the runway included frantic civilians climbing a collapsing set of airstairs; those who were successful climbing the stairs helped others up, leaving some hanging from the railings, as they desperately attempt to board a parked passenger plane to escape after the government collapsed, the AFP report continued.
The chaos prompted the U.S. embassy in Kabul to tell American nationals and Afghans to “not travel to the airport” on Twitter.
The U.S. said the entire embassy staff had been evacuated to the airport, but they were kept separate from those without permission to travel.
As U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tried to reassure those left behind that all is well, he told a broadcaster on Sunday, “This is not Saigon,” reported Breitbart News.