KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – A shooting at a gate at Kabul International Airport killed an Afghan soldier early Monday, German officials said, the latest chaos to engulf Western evacuation efforts those fleeing the capture of the country by the Taliban.
The shootings near the military side of the airport occurred when the Taliban sent fighters north of the capital to remove bags of armed resistance to the lightning strike earlier this month. The Taliban said they had retaken three districts that had fallen the day before and had surrounded Panjshir, the last province left out of their control.
Afghan security forces collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance, despite 20 years of Western aid, training and assistance. But some armed Afghans remain at Kabul airport aiding Western evacuation efforts.
The shots exploded near the north gate of the airport, where at least seven Afghans were killed a day earlier in a panic attack by thousands of people trying to flee the country. The circumstances of the shooting, which took place in the early hours of the morning, were unclear.
The German army tweeted about the spread of a member of the Afghan security forces and three others wounded by “unknown attackers”. He later clarified that he was referring to “members of the Afghan army” involved in airport security.
The U.S. military and NATO did not immediately recognize the shooting. There were no comments from the Taliban.
The tragic scenes at the airport have shaken the world. The Afghans dumped the asphalt last week and some clung to a U.S. military transport plane as it took off, and then rushed to their deaths. At least seven people died that day, in addition to the seven dead Sundays.
The Taliban accuse the chaotic evacuation of the U.S. military, saying there is no need for Afghans to fear them, even as their fighters shoot into the air and hit people with batons as they try to control crowds outside the U.S. airport perimeter.
The Taliban have promised amnesty to those who worked with the United States, NATO and the overthrown Afghan government, but many Afghans still fear retaliatory attacks. There have been reports in recent days of the Taliban hunting down their former enemies. It is unclear whether Taliban leaders say one thing and do another or whether fighters take matters into their own hands.
As the airlift continues, the U.S. government has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, which has requested 18 planes from U.S. carriers to help transport Afghan refugees after they are evacuated to other countries. . The voluntary program, born out of the Berlin airlift, adds to the capabilities of the military during crises.
Earlier Monday, a Delta Air Lines flight landed in Dubai and later took off for Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base, where evacuees crowd into hangars. A steady stream of military transport planes continues to fly people out of Kabul to airfields across the Middle East.
He has also been concerned that a local Islamic State affiliate could attack crowds outside the airport with suicides or missiles against U.S. aircraft. Military aircraft have been performing corkscrew landings and other aircraft have fired flares as they took off, measures used to prevent missile attacks.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban have faced limited armed resistance by fighters in Baghlan province, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Kabul. Fighters claimed to have seized three districts in the Andarab Valley on Sunday, but the Taliban said on Monday that they had eliminated them overnight.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group’s forces have surrounded Panjshir, the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces that has not yet fallen into the hands of militants.
Several Taliban opponents have gathered there, including Amrullah Saleh, the vice president of the overthrown government who claims to be the incumbent president of the constitution. Ahmad Massoud, the son of the dead commander of the Northern Alliance militias who partnered with the U.S. to oust the Taliban from power in 2001, is also in Panjshir.
In interviews with Arab media over the weekend, Massoud said his fighters would resist any attempt to take the province by force, but that they were open to dialogue with the Taliban.
Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said there has been no fighting in Panjshir yet and that his group is seeking a “peaceful solution” to the confrontation.
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Faiez reported from Istanbul and Gambrell in Dubai, UAE. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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Afghanistan coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan