Kabul airport plunges into chaos as Taliban patrol capital

By AHMAD SEIR, TAMEEM AKHGAR, KATHY GANNON and JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least seven people are dead after the main airport in the Afghan capital descended into chaos. Thousands of Afghans rushed onto the tarmac Monday, a day after the government fell to the advancing Taliban. Some people were so desperate to escape the country that they held onto an American military jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths. By Monday night, witnesses said, hundreds of people remained trapped between American forces trying to push them out of the airport and Taliban forces trying to keep them in. In the U.S., a resolute President Joe Biden said he stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw American forces.