Kabul airport chaos stalls evacuations amid criticism of US pullout

Thousands of civilians desperate to flee Afghanistan thronged Kabul airport on Monday after the Taliban seized the capital, prompting the US military to suspend evacuations as the United States came under mounting criticism at home over its pullout.

Crowds converged on the airport seeking to escape, including some clinging to a US military transport plane as it taxied on the runway, according to footage posted by a media company.

US troops fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way on to a military flight evacuating US diplomats and embassy staff, a US official said.

Five people were reported killed in chaos at the airport on Monday, although a witness said it was unclear if they had been shot or killed in a stampede. A US official told Reuters two gunmen had been killed by US forces there over the past 24 hours.

The Taliban's rapid conquest of Kabul follows US President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US forces after 20 years of war that cost billions of dollars.

The speed at which Afghan cities fell in just days and fear of a Taliban crackdown on freedom of speech and women's rights gained over 20 years have sparked criticism.

Biden, who said Afghan forces had to fight back against the Islamist Taliban, was due to speak on Afghanistan at 1945 GMT.

He is facing a barrage from opponents and allies, including Democratic lawmakers, former government officials and even his own diplomats over his handling of US exit from Afghanistan.

The essence of frustration focuses on the administration's lack of preparations - both in getting at-risk Afghans out even if they had months to plan and doing little to ensure some advances made on women's rights do not evaporate overnight.

"If President Biden truly has no regrets about his decision to withdraw, then he is disconnected from reality when it comes to Afghanistan," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Twitter.

Republican Representative Jim Banks, a member of the House armed services committee, told Fox News: "We have never seen an American leader abdicate his responsibilities and leadership like Joe Biden has. He's in hiding. The lights are on at the White House, but nobody's home. Where is Joe Biden?"

Jim Messina, a White House deputy chief of staff under former President Barack Obama, defended Biden's decision, saying there had been a bipartisan consensus that it was time to leave.

"We've been there 20 years. It's America's longest-running war, it is time to get out," he said on Fox. "Why should American troops be fighting a civil war that Afghan troops this week refused to fight for themselves, it was time to get out."

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary of the usually staunch US ally Britain, said the 2020 Doha withdrawal accord struck with the Taliban by Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, was a "rotten deal". Wallace said Biden's decision to leave Afghanistan had enabled the Taliban to re-emerge in power.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled on Sunday as the Islamist militants entered Kabul virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

The United States and other foreign powers have rushed to fly out diplomatic and other staff but the United States temporarily halted all evacuation flights to clear people from the airfield, a US defence official told Reuters.

Suhail Shaheen, a spokesperson for the Taliban, said in a message on Twitter that their fighters were under strict orders not to harm anyone.

"Life, property and honour of no one shall be harmed but must be protected by the mujahideen," he said.

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the whole country after a lightning sweep https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/talibans-rapid-advance-across... that ended in Kabul as government forces https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-surge-exposes-failure..., trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.

US officers had long worried that corruption would undermine the resolve of badly paid, ill-fed and erratically supplied front-line soldiers.

Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of fighters.

Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban's political office, told Al Jazeera TV the form of Afghanistan's new government would be made clear soon. He said the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and called for peaceful international relations.

The militants sought to project a more moderate face https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-seek-present-moderate..., promising to respect women's rights and protect both foreigners and Afghans.

But many Afghans fear the Taliban will return to past harsh practices. During their 1996-2001 rule, women could not work and punishments such as public stoning, whipping and hanging were administered.

"Everyone is worried," a former government employee now in hiding in Kabul said. "They're not targeting people yet but they will, that's the reality. Maybe in two or three weeks, that's why people are fighting to get out now."

Both the United Nations and the United States said last week they had received reports that Taliban fighters were executing surrendering government soldiers.