US troops fired shots into the air at Kabul airport on Monday as thousands of Afghans crowded onto the tarmac desperate to leave the country a day after the Taliban takeover of the country. “The crowd was out of control. The firing was only done to defuse the chaos,” a US official told Reuters by phone.
US forces are in charge at the airport and are helping in the evacuation of embassy staff and other civilians. “I feel very scared here. They are firing lots of shots into the air,” a witness told AFP.
Several photographs and videos on social media show Afghans crowding the airport trying to get out of the country after Taliban insurgents entered the capital on Sunday.
