The daughter of a former interpreter who worked for a US company in Kabul was reportedly hit by a crowd at the airport exit on Saturday as Afghan citizens struggled to evacuate the country amid the deteriorating situation. of security.
The New York Times reported that the former performer was traveling to a Kabul airport with her husband, a 2-year-old daughter, disabled parents, three sisters and a cousin when she was trapped by a large number of people.
The performer told the Times hours after the incident that all members of his family were thrown to the ground and trampled by the crowd.
He remembered that someone had broken his cell phone and that another had punched him in the head. He said he tried to take off his abaya, a clothes-like dress, because he had difficulty breathing in the middle of the madness.
As she tried to get up, she looked for her child around her and finally found her dead after being trampled.
“I felt pure terror,” the woman told the Times in a telephone interview in Kabul. “I couldn’t save her.”
The interpreter, whose identity was not released for security reasons, said her daughter’s body was returned to the grave.
“My baby was such a cute kid,” she told the Times. “When I heard the shots, I just yelled,‘ Crackers! “in reference to the shots that infiltrated his neighborhood.
The woman said she and her family are unlikely to attempt another trip to Kabul airport soon, telling the Times, “I’d rather die dignified here at home than die in such an unworthy way.”
The interpreter’s story comes as U.S. citizens and Afghan allies in Afghanistan are running to evacuate after the Taliban took control of the country last weekend.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
Lloyd AustinPentagon seeks to hire commercial airlines to help evacuate Afghanistan US military finds “alternative routes” to Kabul airport amid ISIS-K threats: reports Threats, turmoil and talks mark Afghan evacuation MORE he told lawmakers in a phone call last week that people, including Americans, who were trying to flee the country have been hit by the Taliban on a number of occasions, according to Politico.
The U.S. military is now working to remove U.S. and Afghan personnel from Afghanistan. Approximately 25,100 people have been evacuated since Aug. 14 and about 30,000 since late July, according to a White House official.
In the last 24 hours alone, approximately 3,900 people have been evacuated from the country, the official added.