Location in Kabul: Waiting at the airport

US military planes continue to take off from the airport in Kabul. Thousands of people are still hoping to leave. But the danger on site is great – there is a threat of further attacks and e-mails with false evacuation calls are in circulation.

There are still flight operations at Kabul Airport. But it is almost exclusively US machines that are here. 5000 people are still waiting on the airport grounds to leave. They are to be flown out with the gray Boeing military transporters of the Globemaster type. According to the Pentagon, 4,000 US soldiers are still there to protect the last evacuations.

The access to the airport is closed, here are Taliban with large Humwee armored vehicles that they captured from the Afghan army. Some of the fighters wear helmets, others wear white caps with the Muslim creed.

Many come without a passport

Allaudin, a passerby, is critical of the evacuations. “What America has done has caused a lot of chaos,” he told a reporter for the Reuters news agency, “and that’s why this driveway is now closed.” The US should have done something to make it easier for people to get out of the country, Allaudin continues to complain. The problem here was those who didn’t have passports and came here anyway.

In fact, the entrances to the airport were so overcrowded mainly because people from all over Afghanistan had come with little prospect of evacuation. They had never worked for NATO or foreign aid organizations, but still wanted to give it a try.

Wrong Visa emails

But before the devastating suicide attack, there were also false e-mails in which one should come to the airport – to the Abbey Gate, exactly where the explosive device exploded. The senders pretended to be US diplomats, and a colored pseudo-visa to print out was attached to the mail. It is unclear how many fell for this.

The Taliban are currently trying to appease those wishing to leave the country. Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a senior Taliban representative, also addressed those who wanted to leave in a 45-minute televised address. They could do so “with dignity and peace of mind,” said Stanikzai, “if they have valid documents such as passports and visas after the resumption of commercial air traffic.”

The Taliban had said this again and again in the past few days – but even after the suicide attack, people came to the airport gates again, albeit significantly less. Bilal Sarwary, a well-known Afghan journalist, lost friends in the attack.

Three of my friends went there with their own families. We talked to each other. They explained to me how difficult it was to wait outside the airport in this sewer when the explosion took place. So you died in a very tragic way. Three friends and their families.

Warnings of new attacks

Yesterday afternoon, the Pentagon gave details of the retaliatory strike with a drone. Not one, but two IS terrorists were killed and another was injured. The Taliban, who are hostile to IS, reacted to the attack in Nangahar province only very late and relatively mildly.

Meanwhile, there have been concrete attack warnings again since the early morning. The US embassy in Kabul named several airport gates and locations near the airport. You should definitely stay away from there, the danger is great.