Panic at Kabul airport as Taliban promise 'open, inclusive Islamic government'

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KABUL — Thousands of Afghans crowded the tarmac of Kabul airport on Monday morning in a desperate attempt to get out of the country after the Taliban militant group seized power.

US forces at the airport were forced to fire into the air to restore calm. "I am very scared. They are firing shots in the air. I saw a young girl being run over and killed," a witness told AFP.

Distressing footage of desperate Afghans clinging to departing aircraft to escape were posted in social media as the situation in Kabul remained fluid.

It comes less than a day after Taliban insurgents entered the capital after sweeping the country in a power-grabbing operation that has surprised Western countries by its swiftness.

A Taliban spokesperson and negotiator told the Associated Press news agency that the militant group is holding talks aimed at forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government” in Afghanistan.

The leadership of Taliban has been shrouded in secrecy for decades but four men are currently believed to be at the helm.

These include Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader who is more of a spiritual figurehead; Mullah Bardar, the founder who oversaw the signing of the withdrawal agreement with the US last year; Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani Network; and Mullah Yaqoop, who oversees a vast network of field commanders.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on Sunday evening that "France intends to do its utmost to continue to provide protection for Afghan civil society figures, rights defenders, artists and journalists who are particularly threatened because of their commitment."

The French Embassy has been relocated to the airport in Kabul where ambassador David Martinon and his staff are delivering visas and coordinating evacuations of French nationals and Afghans who have worked with France's diplomatic corps or military.

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, more than 600 Afghan employees and their families have been relocated to France since May.

The Defense Ministry has meanwhile announced that two military planes were dispatched to evacuate French nationals and eligible Afghan citizens out of Kabul.

Also Britain's Ministry of Defense said that the first flight of British nationals and embassy staff, including Afghan nationals eligible for relocation, landed at RAF Brize Norton last night.

In another development, German media called on Berlin to help Afghan journalists. In an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel published on Sunday, German media organizations demanded emergency visas be delivered to local Afghan staff.

They warned that "the lives of these freelance staff are now in acute danger."

"They too shared our belief in the free press as an indispensable element of a stable, peaceful, balanced democracy — a value that the German government strongly supported in Afghanistan over the past 20 years," they also wrote.

Several Western airlines have announced that they are now rerouting flights so that they don't fly over Afghanistan due to the security situation in the country.

These include Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic. On Monday morning, the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 showed that no plane was using Afghan airspace.

Earlier, a Taliban official said the group would announce a new government from the presidential palace, but those plans appear to be on hold.

The United Nations Security Council has announced that it will hold an emergency meeting on Monday at 16:00 CEST to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. The European Union's Political and Security Committee will meet an hour earlier by videoconference with Belarus also on the agenda.

European Union Foreign ministers will convene on Tuesday afternoon for an extraordinary meeting, the bloc's top diplomat has announced.

"Afghanistan stands at a crossroad. Security and wellbeing of its citizens, as well as the international security, are at play," Josep Borrell said.

The Taliban sought to project calm on Monday, circulating videos on its official social media accounts of fighters deployed throughout Kabul.

The posts said the fighters were deployed to "provide security" to Kabul residents. One said, "The general public is happy with the arrival of the Mujahideen and satisfied with the security."

Spokesman Suhail Shaheen also stressed that fighters had been instructed not to enter anyone's house without permission. He also rejected accusations that single women were being forced to marry Taliban fighters as "poisonous propaganda."

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis also announced on Monday that the country's first evacuation flight had taken off from Kabul's international airport with 46 people on board. They included Czech nationals, the Afghan staffers at the Czech embassy and Afghan interpreters who helped the Czech armed forces during NATO missions together with their families.

A German military aircraft bound for Kabul left Wunstorf Monday morning to support the evacuation of German embassy personnel and local staff from Afghanistan. "The aim of the mission is to bring German nationals, Afghan local staff and others to be protected by Germany," the Defense Ministry said.

Sweden also announced that 19 embassy employees had been flown out of Kabul while Denmark and Norway said the bulk of their embassy staff was now also out of Afghanistan.

Portugal’s defense minister João Gomes Cravinho told public broadcaster RTP late Sunday that the country is prepared to take in 243 Afghans, and their families who worked with Portuguese forces stationed in the country.

Lisbon is coordinating the evacuations with NATO as it doesn't have the military capacity to do so. However, it is unclear how long Kabul’s deteriorating security would allow any evacuations to continue.

A spokesperson for the Taliban said on Twitter: "We assure all embassies, diplomatic missions, institutions and residences of foreign nationals in Kabul that there is no danger to them."

European far-right, meanwhile, stated that the Taliban victory will spur terror attacks, illegal migration. Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, said in a statement on Monday that the "first victims" of a Taliban government "will be the Afghan people and in particular Afghan women."

She added: "There is no doubt that this situation will lead to an increased risk of attacks in our countries and the prospect of new waves of immigration."

Her Italian counterpart, Matteo Salvini of the League party wrote on Twitter that "terrorism, violence, fear and illegal immigration are on the horizon" due to the return of the Taliban to power.

Russia has meanwhile announced that its ambassador to Afghanistan will meet with a Taliban representative on Tuesday to discuss security for the diplomatic mission, adding that the outside perimeter of the embassy is already being guarded by the Taliban.

Ambassador Zamir Kabulov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that some of roughly 100 Russian embassy staff “will be placed on leave or evacuated in some other fashion just in order not to create too big a presence."

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Monday that Beijing, which shares a border with Afghanistan, would respect the choice of the Afghan people when asked whether they will recognize a Taliban government. —Euronews