Kabul airport satellite images show chaos and crowds as thousands try to flee Afghanistan

Chaotic scenes as diplomats, Afghans flee to airport
US and allies scramble to evacuate their citizens

Afghanistan

Business Insider

Published: 10:28am, 17 Aug 2021

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Thousands of people in Afghanistan fled to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Monday in a last-ditch effort to flee the country after the Taliban overtook the region at a record pace.

Previous photos and videos showed large numbers of Afghan people blocking off runways and latching onto US Air Force planes attempting to take off – and some falling off mid-flight. At least seven people were reported to have died in the chaos.

But new satellite images from Maxar Technologies reveal the scale of the humanitarian crisis as people try to escape Afghanistan.

People congregating on a runway at Kabul’s airport on Monday. Photo: 2021 Maxar Technologies

The satellite photos also give a glimpse of the chaos outside the airport as hundreds of vehicles reached a gridlock trying to approach the airfield.

Traffic jams near the entrance to Kabul’s airport. Photo: 2021 Maxar Technologies

Large crowds of people appear to have abandoned their vehicles entirely in a rush to board some of the final remaining planes leaving Kabul. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said on Monday that all flights at Kabul's airport, both military and civilian, were grounded as US soldiers attempted to re-establish a security perimeter around the airport.

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Satellite images show crowd at Kabul airport as US and Turkish planes leave Afghanistan

On Tuesday, military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians resumed and the number of civilians at the airport had thinned out, a Western security official at the facility told Reuters.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that the military was ending 1,000 more troops to Kabul for a soon-to-be total of 7,000 soldiers in Afghanistan's capital.

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