Chaotic scenes at Kabul’s international airport turned deadly Monday as thousands of people converged in hopes of getting on an evacuation flight after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
U.S. troops shot and killed two armed men at Kabul’s international airport, according to a U.S. official. The armed men, who numbered at least two, approached U.S. troops deployed to the airport to provide security and assist Americans and other individuals in a safe departure from Afghanistan, the official said. Few details were available about how things transpired between the U.S. troops and the armed men, who weren’t identified.
Separately, witnesses reported seeing three prone, bloodied bodies lying on the ground just outside the terminal building.
The U.S. military took over security of the airport to facilitate a massive airlift of foreign diplomats and citizens after the Afghan government collapsed on Sunday. Those evacuation flights are processed on a separate military side of the airport.
Thousands of desperate Afghans—many of whom used to work for American forces—flocked to the airport as the victorious Taliban combed Kabul for those who had collaborated with the West. Rumors circulated that flights were taking passengers even without passports and tickets.