Panic in Kabul: Three stowaways ‘fall to their deaths from plane’ and five others are killed

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Three stowaways fell hundreds of feet to their deaths from a military jet and at least five others have been killed at Kabul airport as thousands of desperate Afghans try to flee the Taliban by clambering on to rescue flights in increasingly chaotic scenes in the capital.

Thousands of terrified people have descended on Hamad Karzai airport as the UK, US and other western countries fly out their citizens and diplomats on military aircraft following the lightning victory of the Taliban over the Afghan government.

All commercial flights have been suspended, leading to the desperate civilians climbing on to the fuselage of departing military planes and then trying to stowaway through the wheel housings.

Three people fell to their deaths after one jet had taken off. Video posted later appeared to show residents collecting their bodies from a roof in Kabul.

US military forces brought in Apache helicopters to fly low over the tarmac and clear throngs of Afghans off the runway to allow planes to take off. Earlier US troops had fired into the air to try and move the crowds back. 

However hundreds of people were still able to run alongside a US C-17 with many clambering on to the front and rear wheels, while others climbed airbridges hoping to force their way on to planes waiting at the departure gates.

At least five other people have died at the airport. The Wall Street Journal quoted witnesses saying three of them were shot dead, although it is not clear if the other victims died in the stampede.

The shambolic scenes heaped further humiliation on the US and UK for their handling of the withdrawal of troops  and subsequent swift collapse of the Afghan government. 

The head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, Armin Laschet, called it the ‘biggest NATO debacle’ since the founding of the alliance, while Tory MPs accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of a ‘shameful’ silence, describing Afghanistan’s collapse ‘the biggest single policy disaster’ and questioning whether he did enough to persuade President Joe Biden to not pull out US troops.  

Biden has retreated to Camp David for a vacation and the White House released a picture of him by himself speaking to his National Security Council via Zoom.  

Biden, who has failed to speak publicly on the calamitous surrender, has been condemned by the Wall Street Journal for ‘one of the most shameful [silences] in history by a Commander in Chief at such a moment of American retreat.’ The President issued a statement on Saturday which blamed Donald Trump – who in turn has called for Biden to resign – for a deal forged with the Taliban. 

Biden has faced heated criticism that the US troop withdrawal was mismanaged, with the US scrambling to evacuate its sprawling embassy just a month after he played down fears the Afghan government would crumble quickly. 

Critics have said the US’ reputation as a global power has been badly tarnished by the shameful scenes, even as officials continue to describe the 20-year engagement as a ‘success’.  

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has also come under fire for hightailing out of the country last night, in a helicopter full of cash, according to the Russian embassy. His whereabouts remain unknown. 

Political rival and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah blasted Ghani for fleeing, warning ‘God will hold him to account’, in a video posted to his Facebook page. While a fellow politician branded Ghani ‘a disgrace’.  

The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed the first British nationals landed at RAF base Brize Norton early on Monday as 60 countries issued a joint plea to the Taliban to allow civilians to flee ahead of EU foreign ministers hold crisis talks via videolink on Tuesday. 

But an emotional Defence Secretary Ben Wallace conceded that ‘some people won’t get back’. Around 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans are thought to be in Kabul and in need of evacuation.

Some 700 UK personnel are deployed at the airport, with Mr Wallace insisting the key areas are still secure despite chaotic scenes and reports of several people being killed when they fell from aircraft. The US has 5,000 troops in place.

The Taliban swept into the capital on Sunday after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country ‘to avoid bloodshed’, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the country.  

The US Embassy has been evacuated and the American flag lowered, with diplomats relocating to the airport in scenes reminiscent of the evacuation of the embassy of Saigon in 1975. Other Western countries have also closed their missions and are flying out staff and civilians.  

Almost all major checkpoints in Kabul were under Taliban control by Monday morning and Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority issued an advisory saying the ‘civilian side’ of the airport had been ‘closed until further notice’ and that the military controlled the airspace. 

Early Monday morning, flight-tracking data showed no immediate commercial flights over the country.

Video from Afghanistan’s parliament building showed Taliban fighters entering the main chamber today. The grainy footage showed fighters carrying weapons sitting at a table at the head of the chamber under the government’s seal, with some smiling and posing for photographs. 

It comes after officials  promised civilians would not be harmed and announced everyone would be allowed to return home from Kabul airport if they decided to stay in the country. The Taliban previously said westerners would be allowed to leave the country but that Afghans would be barred from departing.  

It comes as: 

Taliban fighters were seen patrolling the streets of Kabul as thousands of hopeful Afghans gathered on the runway at Hamid Karzai airport trying desperately to escape from Afghanistan; The UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan put plans to leave the country on hold – and remained at Kabul airport to help process the applications of those seeking to leave;Prime Minister Boris Johnson said hundreds of nationals and eligible Afghans would be evacuated every day, with flights out of the country continuing as long as it is safe; Defence Minister Ben Wallace choked up today as he vowed to fly hundreds of desperate Afghans out of the country within the next 36 hours – but insisted sending UK troops back in is not ‘on the cards’; The EU said member states’ foreign ministers would hold crisis talks via video link on Tuesday;President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan to ‘avoid bloodshed’ on Sunday night, Al Jazeera reported he sought refuge in Uzbekistan;Ghani relinquished power to an interim government led by Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar; Former President Hamid Karzai urged the Taliban to spare Kabul and told residents to stay in their homes and said he would be staying in the country; Russian officials said they were in touch with the Taliban in Afghanistan via its Embassy in Kabul; The US ambassador and embassy staff fled Afghanistan after Taliban forces stormed Kabul in scenes likened to the 1975 evacuation of its mission in Saigon; PM Boris Johnson said said the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan had ‘accelerated’ the crisis;British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was forced to return to the UK from his holiday abroad; Tory MPs called fallout from Anglo-US withdrawal ‘Britain’s worst foreign policy disaster since Suez’;MPs are expected to to vent their anger and frustration when they return to Westminster on Wednesday for an emergency recall of Parliament to discuss the crisis;President Biden defended the withdrawal of US troops and blamed his predecessor Donald Trump for a deal that left the warlords ‘in the strongest position militarily since 2001’; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted the scene in Afghanistan is not comparable to the fall of Saigon as he diverted blame for the Taliban takeover on Republicans.

President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday night as the insurgents encircled the capital – saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed – capping a military victory that saw them capture all cities in just 10 days.

In a Facebook post, Ghani said he had left the country to avoid clashes with the Taliban that would endanger millions of Kabul residents. Some social media users branded Ghani, who did not disclose his location, a coward for leaving them in chaos. Al Jazeera reported he had flown to Uzbekistan, citing his personal bodyguard.

‘The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,’ Ghani said after fleeing.

Taliban officials said they had received no reports of any clashes anywhere in the country: ‘The situation is peaceful,’ one official said. The Taliban control 90 percent of state buildings and fighters had been told to prevent any damage, the official added.

Scenes of panic spread across the country on Monday as thousands of Afghans desperately try to flee Afghanistan before the Taliban’s brutal rules are implemented. Refugees massed at borders, with pictures from Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan showing hundreds of people queuing in an attempt to leave.   

‘Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years,’ Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, told Al Jazeera TV. ‘Thanks to God, the war is over in the country.’

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who fought in the Soviet-Afghan War during the 1980s and helped ex-chief Mohammad Omar create the Taliban in 1994, is thought likely to be installed as the head of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, according to reports in the Arab world.  

Former Afghan president Hamid Kharzai tried to reassure those left in Kabul in a video message: ‘To the people of Kabul, I, my daughters and my family are here with you. My wish is that the problems of our country and capital could be solved with peaceful dialogue and negotiations.

‘I want the Taliban forces, wherever you are, to provide safety to the people and pay attention to preserve people’s lives. I advise all the people to stay in your homes. We are trying to talk with the leadership of Taliban to solve the problems of the people of Afghanistan through dialogue and brotherhood, for the sake of our nation.’

Afghanistan’s Paralympic team have already announced they will not participate in Tokyo Games due to the closure of Kabul airport amid the worsening political situation in country. 

Britain will evacuate hundreds of British nationals and eligible Afghan nationals every day, and flights out of Afghanistan will continue for as long as it is safe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Monday. 

‘I’d say at least hundreds every day will be leaving (on) the flights, but obviously this is a fluid situation,’ the spokesman said. Asked how long Britain planned to keep such flights going, he said: ‘We want to obviously continue to do this as long as we are able to do so and as long as it is safe to do so.’

The government COBRA emergency response committee will meet later on Monday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.  

It came after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the military side of Kabul airport was secure and that Britain was doing everything it could to evacuate British citizens and Afghans with links to Britain.

‘Our target is… about 1200 to 1500 exit a day in the capacity of our airplanes, and we’ll keep that flow,’ he said.

Britain has relocated its embassy to Kabul airport from the city. 

Asked what he would feel to see the Taliban flag flying over the former British embassy building in Kabul, Wallace said: ‘Symbolically, it’s not what any of us wanted.’ 

The Armed Forces are supporting the evacuation of British nationals and those eligible for relocation under the Government’s Afghan Relocation and Assistance Program.

Special Forces units are joining 600 British troops from the 16 Air Assault Brigade, including 150 Paratroopers, with support from RAF teams from around the world, to airlift British officials out of the Kabul. 

Revealing that the first evacuation flight had landed in the UK last night, the Ministry of Defence said in a Twitter post: ‘Last night the first flight of British Nationals and Embassy Staff arrived at RAF Brize Norton as part of Op Pitting. 

‘The UK Armed Forces are supporting the evacuation of British Nationals and those eligible for relocation under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Program.’

The rescue mission could eventually see thousands being evacuated from Afghanistan. Around 500 embassy staff are thought to be among those to be rescued. 

Around 5,000 Afghan-English interpreters and their families are also seeking evacuation, as they fear being classed as ‘traitors’ by the extremist Taliban.

There are also thousands of British and dual nationality passport holders who may need evacuation to UK, and around 2,000 people with links to Britain who could also be eligible to leave Afghanistan for the UK.  

It comes as the UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan put plans to leave the country on hold – and remained at Kabul airport to help process the applications of those seeking to leave.

Despite the scramble to evacuate, the ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow was said to have remained in the city last night. Boris Johnson said he was at the airport helping to process the applications of those seeking to leave. 

Some 700 UK personnel are deployed at the airport, with Mr Wallace insisting the key areas are still secure despite chaotic scenes. He said it could take more than 36 hours to get another 1,500 out, suggesting nearly 800 of those will be Afghans. Government sources said 1,000 interpreters and other staff had arrived over the past few weeks.

It is not clear how the evacuation is being prioritised, with Mr Wallace stressing that vetting applications to leave at high speed was more of a challenge than maintaining flights.

The Prime Minister has insisted Britain could ‘look back at 20 years of effort and achievement In Afghanistan’, as he argued he wanted to ‘make sure that we don’t throw those gains away’.  

Wallace choked up as he talked about the consequences of the collapse of the Western-trained Afghan army, after the Taliban walked into Kabul and took charge of the presidential palace. 

He said the crisis had become inevitable after a deal was struck with the extremists and the US pulled out, and the focus was now on evacuating British nationals, interpreters and others who might be subject to reprisals.

But he conceded that ‘some people won’t get back’. ‘It is sad the West has done what it has done,’ he said. ‘Twenty years of sacrifice.. is what it is.’  

Mr Wallace – who himself served in the military before entering politics – said he felt the issue so deeply because he was a soldier. 

Wallace later told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:  ‘President Biden inherited a momentum, a momentum that had been given to the Taliban because they felt they had now won, he’d also inherited a momentum of troop withdrawal from the international community, the US.’

‘So I think in that sense, the seeds of what we’re seeing today were before President Biden took office. The seeds were a peace deal that was [effectively] rushed, that wasn’t done in collaboration properly with the international community and then a dividend taken out incredibly quickly.’

MP Tobias Ellwood, former captain in the British Army and chairman of the defence select committee, criticised the West for pulling out of Afghanistan.

Appearing on Sky News, he said: ‘The world is now a little bit more dangerous because they’ve now taken control of the country, and the West should really hang its head in shame after abruptly abandoning Afghanistan to a civil war after two decades of effort.’

He added: ‘This is not a good day for the West at all, and China will be observing things very, very closely indeed. They are already making alliances with the Taliban and glossing over the human rights atrocities that are likely to unfold.’ 

Mr Ellwood later compared the mayhem at Kabul airport ‘Saigon 2.0,’ akin it to US evacuation of South Vietnam’s capital in 1975.

The advance of the North Vietnamese prompted the US to evacuate thousands of its nationals and troops as well as South Vietnamese civilians who had helped during the war. The most dramatic images involved the evacuation of people from the roof of the US Embassy.

‘If this is not Saigon 2.0, I don’t know what is,’ Ellwood said. ‘Is this how we thought we’d depart Afghanistan? I repeat my call for a UK inquiry.’

Meanwhile Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the government to ‘get UK nationals out’, but added ‘we also have an obligation to all of those Afghans who helped and assisted the UK, and we shouldn’t have nice distinctions between this type of person, this type of help, and that type of help.’ 

‘If those in Afghan have helped us, the UK, in our work in Afghanistan, we have got an obligation to them.’

He said on the longer and medium-term there needs to be ‘safe and legal routes for refugees’.

Families of soldiers who died on previous tours of Afghanistan have criticised the British and US Governments’ handling of the withdrawal from the nation.

Graham Knight, father of 25-year-old RAF Sergeant Ben Knight who was killed when his Nimrod aircraft exploded in Afghanistan in 2006, said the British Government should have moved more quickly to get civilians out.

The 69-year-old said: ‘We’re not surprised that the Taliban have taken over because as soon as the Americans and the British said they were going to leave, we knew this was going to happen.

‘The Taliban made their intent very clear that, as soon as we went out, they would move in. As for whether people’s lives were lost through a war that wasn’t winneable, I think they were.

‘I think the problem was we were fighting people that were native to the country. We weren’t fighting terrorists, we were fighting people who actually lived there and didn’t like us being there.’

Discussing the footage of people desperately climbing on to planes in Kabul to escape, Mr Knight said: ‘I feel very sorry for them, they’re obviously fighting for their lives. Anybody who feels like that is in a desperate situation. It’s like Saigon all over again.’

The fall of Saigon happened when military personnel evacuated the former southern capital of Vietnam in 1975 after the North Vietnamese army captured the city, leading to the end of the Vietnam War.

Mr Knight went on: ‘I think it was all started too late again. It [the evacuation process] should have started about a week ago. My main worry is some hothead American, or British hothead, will decide that the Taliban isn’t behaving how they want, shoot at them and that will be it.’

While Ian Sadler, whose 21-year-old Trooper son Jack died when his Land Rover struck a mine in Afghanistan in 2007, told PA: ‘I was surprised the Americans and the allies had so much confidence in the Afghan national army.

‘Why did they think the Afghan national army would be able to keep the Taliban back based on just numbers alone? Why did our Government and allies have so much confidence in them?

‘It proved to be rubbish, really. Why did the president say Kabul will never fall when, at the same time, he must have been planning his escape?

‘To pull them out so quickly like that… I would have thought it would have been more of a strategic advantage to reduce the British and American influence. When the Nato forces were pulled out so suddenly, the Afghan National Army were left without any direction.’

The 71-year-old added: ‘I don’t think any of the British Governments – Labour, coalition or Conservative – have handled the situation in Afghanistan particularly well… The level of support given to our soldiers in Afghanistan was trivial.

‘It wasn’t until we were out there for about 10 years that the urgent operational requirements came in. Why weren’t our soldiers equipped with mine-protected vehicles? We would have lost a lot less.’  

It comes after the US government said late on Sunday all staff from the US Embassy in Kabul and were at the airport. Ambassador Ross Wilson were both seen arriving at Kabul airport, as other Americans still in the country were ordered to shelter in place. 

Initially, the aim had been to have staff removed within 72 hours, but the Taliban’s advances across the Afghan capital Kabul prompted the immediate removal of all staff.

Former President Donald Trump sent a statement to his followers on Sunday calling on President Joe Biden to ‘resign in disgrace’ amid the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops.

‘It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan, along with the tremendous surge in COVID, the Border catastrophe, the destruction of energy independence, and our crippled economy,’ Trump said in an email.

He continued perpetuating his claim that Biden won the presidency via election fraud, concluding the email: ‘It shouldn’t be a big deal, because he wasn’t elected legitimately in the first place.’ 

Earlier Sunday, he issued another statement denouncing the Biden administration over the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

‘Tragic mess in Afghanistan, a completely open and broken Border, Crime at record levels, oil prices through the roof, inflation rising, and taken advantage of by the entire world—DO YOU MISS ME YET?’ he said in a short emailed statement on Friday.

The Trump administration negotiated the terms of a US withdrawal in talks with the Taliban last year. Now the speed of a Taliban advance has rattled officials three weeks ahead of President Biden’s August 31 deadline to bring all troops home. 

Biden has repeatedly said he has no regrets about pushing ahead with his timetable, insisting there was no choice but to withdraw American troops because he would not ‘pass this war’ to another president.  

Iran’s new ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday said that the ‘defeat’ of the United States in Afghanistan must usher in a durable peace in the neighbouring, war-wracked country.

‘The military defeat and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan should offer an opportunity to restore life, security and lasting peace in that country,’ Raisi said, quoted by his office.

The presidency statement came after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, but it did not mention the Taliban nor the fall of the Afghan capital.

Raisi, who made the remarks in a call with outgoing Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the Islamic republic wanted good relations with Afghanistan.

Iran was ‘closely monitoring the evolution of events in Afghanistan’ and wants good neighbourly ties with it, he said.

Raisi tasked Zarif and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to give him updated reports on the situation in Afghanistan, the statement added.

Iran shares a 900km (560 mile) border with Afghanistan, and hosts nearly 3.5 million Afghans, according to the UN refugee agency.

In 1998, Taliban troops entered the Iranian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing several diplomats and an official news agency journalist.

The Taliban later said they had been killed by individuals acting independently, but Tehran held the movement responsible for the deaths, which sparked outrage and nearly triggered an Iranian military intervention in Afghanistan.

Analysts say Tehran is taking a pragmatic stance on the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan.

On Sunday the Iranian foreign ministry said it had reduced its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.

The announcement came shortly after the Taliban reached the outskirts of the Afghan capital.

Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said a skeleton staff remained at Iran’s Kabul embassy and that employees had been also evacuated from three of out of five diplomatic missions in other Afghan cities.

Zarif meanwhile held Monday a meeting in Tehran with China’s special envoy for Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong, the foreign ministry said.

The talks focused on the situation in Afghanistan, it said.

Zarif on Sunday said that ‘Iran stands ready to continue its peacemaking efforts’ in Afghanistan.

‘Violence and war – like occupation – never solve problems,’ he wrote on Twitter.

His talks with the Chinese envoy come as a government spokeswoman in Beijing on Monday said China was ready to deepen ‘friendly and cooperative’ ties with Afghanistan.

Meanwhile Pakistan’s state-run airline says it has halted all flights to Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul because of the ‘uncertain security situation’ there. 

Spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said Monday that Pakistan International Airlines decided to protect passengers, the crew and the planes after consulting the Afghan civil aviation authorities. He spoke as embassies scrambled to evacuate personnel and Afghan employees through the airport. 

Australia is sending three transport and air-to-air refueling jets with 250 military personnel to repatriate more than 130 Australians and their families from Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

Australia is also working to evacuate an undisclosed number of refugees, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.

An Airbus A330 airliner modified for aerial refueling would support US-led operations in Afghanistan later this week, Australia’s Defense Department said in a statement. Two C-17A Globemaster heavy transport aircraft would also be sent to the Middle East, the statement said.

Australia shut its Kabul embassy in May and withdrew the last of its troops from Afghanistan in June. 

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel said soldiers would be deployed to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation of Germany nationals and Afghans in danger from the Taliban, parliamentary sources said.

The government is planning to seek a mandate from parliament to allow the deployment of as many as ‘several hundred soldiers’, the sources told AFP, citing a briefing by Merkel to leaders of parliamentary groups late on Sunday. 

Portugal’s defense minister says his country is prepared to take in 243 Afghans, and their families who worked with Portuguese forces stationed in the country.

Defense Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho said NATO is coordinating the evacuation of the Afghans because Portugal does not have the military capacity to do so. He told public broadcaster RTP late Sunday he is not aware of any Portuguese citizens living in Afghanistan.

Portugal had a small detachment of fewer than 200 troops stationed at Kabul airport, as part of the NATO mission in the country. The last ones pulled out at the end of May. 

While Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Monday that 19 embassy employees had been evacuated from Kabul to Doha, Qatar and that they will eventually flown to Sweden.

Earlier Monday, Norway and Denmark said that the bulk of the embassy staff were out of Afghanistan.  

Denmark’s Defense Minister Trine Bramsen told Danish broadcaster DR that while most Danish diplomats had been evacuated, ‘there are still Danes,’ and others in the country still to be flown out.

Challenges include being able to land at Kabul’s chaotic airport, he said. But there’s a struggle, too, to get people to the airport, ‘a very difficult operation,’ Bramsen was quoted as saying.   

Italy’s evacuated 70 embassy staff and Afghan employees from the capital city of Kabul with the plane scheduled to arrive in Rome on Monday. 

The evacuation is part of Italy’s Operation Aquila Omnia (Eagle Ready for Anything) to quickly evacuate Italian diplomatic staff, citizens and Afghan employees and family members. Italy had one of the largest contingents in Afghanistan before the pullout.

Italian journalist Francesca Mannocchi, who was on the plane, said that it was carrying 20 Afghan embassy employees and their families, including women and children. Prior to the Taliban advance, 228 Afghanis and their families had been transferred to Italy.

Officials declined to give number of how many remained, but Italian media reported over the weekend that some 390 Afghan citizens and their family members were awaiting evacuation. 

The first Czech evacuation flight has taken off from Kabul’s international airport and landed in Prague. Prime Minister Andrej Babis said 46 people were on board Monday’s flight.

They included Czech nationals, the Afghan staffers at the Czech embassy and Afghan interpreters who helped the Czech armed forces during NATO missions together with their families.

Babis didn’t immediately provide more details. It’s not clear how many such flights will follow.

Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek tweeted that given the deteriorating situation at Kabul’s airport, it was ‘a miracle’ that the Czech flight managed to take off.  

Saudi Arabia says it has evacuated all its diplomats from its embassy in the Afghan capital, and New Zealand’s government is sending a plane to help its people leave the country.

Saudi Arabia said all staff were evacuated from the embassy in Kabul on Sunday due to the changing conditions on the ground, joining other countries that have also shuttered their embassies as the Taliban advance on the Afghan capital.

New Zealand’s government says its sending a C-130 Hercules military transport plane to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation of 53 New Zealanders and dozens of Afghanis and their immediate families who helped New Zealand troops when they were stationed there.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said they had so far identified 37 Afghanis who had helped, but the number of evacuees would be in the hundreds once dependents and others were included.

Defense officials say they have planned for a monthlong mission involving at least 40 military personnel tasked with servicing and protecting the plane. Ardern asked that the Taliban allow people to leave peaceably: ‘The whole world is watching,’ she said.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it has ‘temporarily closed’ its embassy in Kabul and evacuated most of its staff to an unspecified third country in the Middle East.

The ministry said a few diplomats, including Ambassador Choi Taeho, remain at a safe location in Afghanistan to support the evacuation of a South Korean national in the country and that the Seoul government is closely working with the United States and other countries to ensure their safe evacuation.

Afghanistan has been on South Korea’s travel ban list since 2007. There were reportedly around five South Koreans living in Afghanistan before the Seoul government in June called for all of them to leave the country within 10 days as the United States and NATO proceeded with troop pullouts.

The United States had earlier released a statement with more than 65 nations urging the Taliban to let Afghans leave the country, warning of accountability for any abuses.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the Taliban and all parties to ‘exercise restraint’ and said the rights of women and girls, who suffered under the previous Taliban regime, must be protected. 

Pen Farthing, founder of animal rescue charity Nowzad, has added his voice to the calls, pleading with the British government to evacuate his 71 staff from Kabul. 

He has vowed not to leave Afghanistan until his staff are granted safe passage to the UK. The Charity has launched a campaign called Operation Ark to fundraise £200,000 to evacuate staff and animals. 

The US government has insisted in recent days that its two decades of war in Afghanistan was a success, defined by quashing the Al-Qaeda threat.

President Joe Biden also said he was determined there was no choice but to withdraw American troops, as he would not ‘pass this war’ onto another president.

But Washington was left shocked by the rapid collapse of the Afghan government, and critics have said the United States’ reputation as a global power has been badly tarnished.

‘America’s credibility as an ally is diminished,’ said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States.

The Taliban freed thousands of prisoners as they swept across the country as the police melted away in recent days. There were scattered reports of looting and armed men knocking on doors and gates.

The Taliban deployed fighters at major intersections and sought to project calm, circulating videos showing quiet city streets.

‘There were a few Taliban fighters on each and every road and intersection in the city,’ Shah Mohammad, a 55-year-old gardener, said after coming to work in the diplomatic quarter. He said there was less traffic than usual and fewer people out on the streets.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, tweeted that fighters had been instructed not to enter any home without permission and to protect ‘life, property and honor.’  

The speed of the Taliban advance has taken almost everyone by surprise and Afghans who had booked commercial flights to escape the Taliban face being forced to remain in Afghanistan.

Westerners will be evacuated by their home nations on military flights but the Taliban has said that it will not allow Afghan citizens to leave.

Tens of thousands of interpreters and officials who helped the Western-backed Afghan government are desperate to escape the country for fear of reprisals by the Taliban.

On Sunday the US led more than 65 nations in urging the resurgent Taliban to let Afghans leave the country, warning of accountability for any abuses. 

‘The United States joins the international community in affirming that Afghans and international citizens who wish to depart must be allowed to do so,’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter as the State Department released a statement signed by its close allies. 

‘Those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan bear responsibility – and accountability – for the protection of human life,’ the joint statement said. 

A NATO official said all commercial flights had been suspended and only military aircraft were allowed to operate. The alliance said it was helping to keep the airport running. 

Following a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergencies committee on Sunday, Boris Johnson his priority was to get UK nationals and Afghans who had worked with them out of the country ‘as fast as we can’.

‘We are going to get as many as we can out in the next few days,’ he said.

Around 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans are thought to be in the city and in need of evacuation.

When the Operation Pitting rescue operation, involving 600 troops, was announced at the end of last week, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it could carry on through the rest of the month.

However the speed of the Taliban advance suggests that there may only be a short window of a few days to get people out.

In a sign of the desperate situation the British ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow was said to be helping the small team of diplomats still in the country to process the applications of those hoping to leave.

There was particular concern for the safety of Afghans who worked with British forces when they were in the country as interpreters and other roles amid fears of reprisals if they fall into the hands of the insurgents.

The Taliban insisted that they were seeking a peaceful takeover of power and were prepared to offer an amnesty to those who had worked with the Afghan government or with foreign governments.

However those assurances were being treated with deep scepticism by many British MPs amid reports of threats to those who remain and their families.

Heavily armed Taliban fighters fanned out across the capital, and several entered Kabul’s abandoned presidential palace. 

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman and negotiator, said that the militants would hold talks in the coming days aimed at forming an ‘open, inclusive Islamic government.’

But he refused to guarantee that Afghans would be allowed to leave the country, telling the BBC: ‘We need all Afghans to stay’. 

He said Taliban forces would not attack NATO teams overseeing evacuations, but said aid organisations and foreign embassies should stay, saying ‘We won’t hurt them’.

Boris Johnson has vowed to get as many as possible of the Afghans who worked with the UK out of the country as the Taliban stood poised to take control of the capital Kabul.

With President Ashraf Ghani fled, and insurgent fighters surrounding the capital, the Prime Minister said the situation was ‘extremely difficult’.

‘The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,’ Ghani said after fleeing.

After chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra contingencies committee he said the UK was determined to work with allies to prevent the country again becoming a ‘breeding ground for terror’.

Britain has sent 600 troops – including Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade – to assist in the operation.

Meanwhile other Western countries were scrambling to get their people out, with helicopters shuttling from the US embassy to the airport while smoke was seen coming from the embassy rooftop as diplomats burned sensitive material.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said earlier on Sunday that US embassy staff were ferried by helicopter from the diplomatic compound to the airport, about  5km (3 miles) away on the northeastern side of the city.

‘We’re working to make sure that our personnel are safe and secure. We’re relocating the men and women of our embassy to a location at the airport,’ Blinken told ABC news.

Asked if the evacuation was evocative of the US departure from Vietnam in 1975, he said: ‘Let’s take a step back. This is manifestly not Saigon.’   

Sources told Reuters that most U.S staff were expected to be evacuated from Kabul in the coming day or two.

A NATO official said all commercial flights had been suspended and only military aircraft were allowed to operate. The alliance said it was helping to keep the airport running.

France and Germany, members of NATO, said on Sunday they were moving their diplomats to the airport and sending military transport planes to Kabul to evacuate their citizens and their Afghan helpers.

A US intelligence assessment earlier in the week had said Kabul could be encircled in 30 days and could fall to the Taliban within 90 days, but the insurgents captured most of Afghanistan’s major cities in less than a week and entered the capital on Sunday.

Some 4,200 people remained in the US embassy until Thursday, when the Taliban’s rapid gains forced the Biden administration to begin flying in thousands of troops to help pull out many of the remaining diplomats.

The deployment included an additional 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, who President Joe Biden said on Saturday would help evacuate citizens and ensure an ‘orderly and safe’ drawdown of US military personnel.

On Sunday, US officials said they were weighing whether more troops were needed. Another 3,000 are on standby in Kuwait.

Washington invested billions of dollars over four US administrations in Afghan government forces, giving them advantages over the Taliban, but they were unable to defend the country in the face of the militants’ advance, Blinken told CNN.

The United States’ original mission in Afghanistan, launched to oust al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, had been fulfilled, Blinken said, saying Washington had prevented further attacks by militants harbored by the Taliban.

But Biden has faced rising domestic criticism after sticking to the plan to withdraw, which was agreed under his Republican predecessor Donald Trump. On Saturday, Biden defended his decision, saying an ‘endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me’.

Republican lawmaker Michael McCaul said a Taliban takeover would revive the threat to the United States.

‘We are going to go back to a pre-9/11 state. A breeding ground for terrorism,’ he told CNN on Sunday.

Biden met with his national security team on Sunday by secure videoconference from the presidential retreat at Camp David to hear updates on evacuations and the security situation, a White House official said.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat like Biden, said at a news conference that the safety of US personnel and of Afghans who supported the Americans should be Washington’s top concern.

‘Job number one is for us to bring back, first, all American personnel… But second, all of the brave Afghans who helped our military, they have to be provided an exit to come to America,’ Schumer said.