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A30 world news
Dialuna 6 September 2021

Taliban stop planes of evacuees from leaving but unclear why

ernment, and many Afghans ued on Sunday. The airport
remain skeptical. In the is without radar facilities, so
weeks since they took pow- flights are restricted to day-
er, signals have been mixed: light hours to allow for visual
Government employees in- landing, said official Sher-
cluding women have been shah Stor.
asked to return to work, but
some women were later or- Several countries have also
dered home by lower-rank- been bringing in humanitar-
ing Taliban. Universities and ian supplies. The Gulf state
schools have been ordered of Qatar, where the Taliban
open, but fear has kept both maintained a political office
students and teachers away. since 2013, is making daily
flights into Kabul, delivering
Women have demonstrated humanitarian aid for the war-
peacefully, some even hav- weary nation. Bahrain also
ing conversations about their announced humanitarian as-
rights with Taliban leaders. sistance deliveries.
But some have been dis-
persed by Taliban special Meanwhile, the Taliban
forces firing in the air. stepped up an assault on the
last remaining pocket of re-
(AP) — At least four tinue working with the new the northern city. The mas- Some signs of normalcy have sistance being led by fighters
planes chartered to evac- Taliban rulers to get those sive airlift happened at Ka- also begun to return. Kabul’s opposed to their rule.
uate several hundred who want to leave out, and bul’s international airport, streets are again clogged with
people seeking to escape the militants pledged to allow which initially closed after traffic, as Taliban fighters The anti-Taliban fighters in
the Taliban’s takeover of anyone with the proper legal the U.S. withdrawal but patrol in pickup trucks and Panjshir province, north of
Afghanistan have been documents to leave. But Rep. where domestic flights have police vehicles — brandish- the Afghan capital, are being
unable to leave the coun- Michael McCaul of Texas now resumed. ing their automatic weapons led by former vice president
try for days, officials said told “Fox News Sunday” that and flying the Taliban’s white Amrullah Saleh, who has ap-
Sunday, with conflicting American citizens and Af- Searing images of that chaotic flag. Schools have opened, pealed for humanitarian aid
accounts emerging about ghan interpreters were being evacuation — including peo- and moneychangers work the to help the thousands of peo-
why they flights weren’t kept on six planes. ple clinging to an airplane as street corners. ple displaced by the fighting.
able to take off as pressure it took off — came to define
ramps up on the United “The Taliban will not let the final days of America’s Among the promises the Tal- A senior Taliban spokesman
States to help those left them leave the airport,” he longest war, just weeks after iban have made is that once tweeted Sunday that Taliban
behind to flee. said, adding that he’s worried Taliban fighters retook the the country’s airports are up troops had overrun Rokha
“they’re going to demand country in a lightning offen- and running, Afghans with district, one of largest of eight
An Afghan official at the air- more and more, whether it sive. passports and visas would be districts in Panjshir. Several
port in the northern city of be cash or legitimacy as the allowed to travel. More than Taliban delegations have at-
Mazar-e-Sharif said that the government of Afghanistan.” Since their takeover, the 100 countries issued a state- tempted negotiations with
would-be passengers were He did not offer more details. Taliban have sought to re- ment saying they would be the holdouts there, but talks
Afghans, many of whom did cast themselves as different watching to see that the new have failed to gain traction.
not have passports or visas, The Afghan official, who from their 1990s incarna- rulers held to their commit-
and thus were unable to leave spoke on condition of ano- tion, when they last ruled the ment. Saleh fled to Panjshir after Af-
the country. He said they had nymity because of the sen- country and imposed repres- ghan President Ashraf Ghani
left the airport while the situ- sitivity of the subject, said it sive restrictions across soci- Technical teams from Qatar quit Afghanistan as the Tal-
ation was sorted out. was four planes, and their in- ety. Women and girls were and Turkey arrived in recent iban marched on the capital.
tended passengers were stay- denied work and education, days and are working to get The fighters’ lightning blitz
The top Republican on the ing at hotels while authorities men were forced to grow the civilian airport opera- across the country took less
U.S. House Foreign Af- worked out whether they beards, and television and tional. than a week to overrun some
fairs Committee, however, might be able to leave the music were banned. 300,000 government troops,
said that the group included country. The sticking point, On Saturday, state-run Ari- most of whom surrendered
Americans and they were sit- he indicated, is that many did Now, the world is waiting to ana Airlines made its first do- or fled.
ting on the planes, but the not have the right travel pa- see the face of the new gov- mestic flights, which contin-
Taliban were not letting them pers.
take off, effectively “holding
them hostage.” He did not Residents of Mazar-e-Sharif
say where that information also said the passengers were
came from. It was not imme- no longer at the airport. At
diately possible to reconcile least 10 families were seen at a
the accounts. local hotel waiting, they said,
for a decision on their fates.
The final days of America’s None of them had passports
20-year war in Afghanistan or visas but said they had
were marked by a harrow- worked for companies allied
ing airlift at Kabul’s airport with the U.S. or German
to evacuate tens of thousands military. Others were seen at
of people — Americans and restaurants.
their allies — who feared
what the future would hold, The small airport at Mazar-e-
given the Taliban’s history Sharif only recently began to
of repression, particularly handle international flights
of women. When the last and so far only to Turkey.
troops pulled out on Aug. 30, The planes in question were
though, many were left be- bound for Doha, Qatar, the
hind. Afghan official said. It was
not clear who chartered them
The U.S. promised to con- or why they were waiting in