US troops used teargas and fired warning shots to control crowds of desperate Afghans at Kabul airport overnight as they crowded entrances while Westerners in the city were blocked from making their way towards evacuation flights by Taliban fighters who stopped them on their journey.
The chaos in Kabul continued into its fifth day on Thursday as thousands of natives surrounded the airport, desperate to be put on an evacuation flight to anywhere by one of the many NATO countries that are sending planes out, some of them half-empty.
Overnight, 12 US Air Force C-17 jets removed 2,000 people from the region – an average of just 160 people per flight, despite the planes being able to carry 600 people – six fewer aircraft than in the previous 24 hours. Since August 14, the US has only removed 7,000 people in total from the region.
