Mercy plane EMPTY while desperate families with one bag each pack into US aircraft to flee Afghanistan in chaotic scenes
DESPERATE families with one bag each have been packed into a US plane to flee Afghanistan – while another mercy aircraft is EMPTY.
It comes as the Taliban have begun door-to-door manhunts for people who worked with UK, US and Nato forces, according to reports.
Shocking photos of inside the plane show the distressing reality for Afghans who are seeking a better life away from the radical Islamists.
But in a startling contrast another snap show a nearly empty evacuation flight taking the wife of an ex-Royal Marine commando out of Kabul.
British expat Paul Farthing, who lives in Kabul and but separated from his wife during the chaos, said on Twitter: “Kaisa is on her way home!
“BUT this aircraft is empty… scandalous as thousands wait outside Kabul airport being crushed as they cannot get in.
“Sadly people will be left behind when this mission is over as we CANNOT get it right.”
It is the latest in the chilling scenes from the days of chaos at Kabul airport as Afghan people desperately try to escape and the West attempt to evacuate their citizens.
While thousands flee, the gun-toting insurgents are currently going door-to-door to threaten relatives of civil servants, interpreters and other consular staff.
A UN dossier leaked to The New York Times has said the Taliban are “arresting and/or threatening to kill or arrest family members of target individuals unless they surrender themselves to the Taliban.”
Meanwhile satellite images show the traffic jams in Kabul as thousands of citizens and foreign nationals attempt to get to the airport.
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The airport has become the centre of the disruption around the city as thousands remain camped out, desperately hoping they may be able to catch a flight out of Afghanistan.
Unconfirmed reports on social media say several people have been killed as US forces and the Taliban – separated by an unofficial no-man’s land – struggle to contain the desperate throngs of people.
The hardline Islamists – who use a warped version of Sharia Law – ruled with an iron fist when they last controlled Afghanistan in the 90s.
And many do not wish to return to the days when women were executed for morality crimes, while petty crooks had body parts amputated, and music was banned.
Taliban forces managed to surge back into control of the country after the withdrawal of US forces – rampaging across the country in a matter of weeks.
Shocked onlookers in the West are now asking how could this happen as the Afghan government and army total collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance.
US President Joe Biden is baring the brunt of the blame – but he has now hit back at the UK and Nato allies, claiming they “had a choice” to stay in Afghanistan and could have done so despite the United States pulling out of the country.
The president said: “Look, before I made this decision I met with all our allies, our Nato allies in Europe.
“They agreed. We should be getting out.”
When he was asked if those allies had a choice, he said: “Sure, they had a choice. Look, the one thing I promise you – in private Nato allies are not quiet.”