Kabul airport – the hotbed of chaos amid mass evacuations after Taliban coup

The Hamid Karzai International Airport of Kabul has become home to over 1,800 people, present all the time, making desperate attempts to escape the country that is uncertain of the future to come. Ever since the Taliban coup in Afghanistan last week, we have seen heartbreaking clips and images of mothers trying to send away their infant children to safety, people tying themselves to the wheels of the aircraft, and whatnot. 

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In all, the Kabul airport has become the epicenter of chaos since last week. According to CNN, the number of people at the airport awaiting flights had swelled to 18,500 on Sunday morning, with another 2,000 at the gates waiting to get in.

“Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.

Also Read: 7 Afghans killed in Kabul airport chaos, says British Defence Ministry

Why the chaos?

Apart from the fact that Afghanistan is now ruled by a terrorist organisation, which poses an extreme threat to the lives and existence of women and children, another reason is the Special Immigrant Visa applications.

The US, which is conducting continuous evacuation operations in the Taliban-led region, has decided to issue electronic visas to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) to Afghan and Iraq applicants without names or document numbers is also a major cause of chaos and mass gatherings at the airport.

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According to CNN, these visas were being copied as screenshots and sent by Afghans to thousands of other Afghans who were not eligible for access to the airport, the source said.

Conditions are getting worse as the family members being evacuated from Kabul have been sent to different countries, which causes more and more people to show up at the spot for questioning. This split however is not the fault of the US.

 This split is “not by design and not really the fault of US officials, but they’re either choosing to come in separately, or getting separated on the way in,” CNN reported quoting US sources.

Evacuation status

The US has so far evacuated 17,000 people since August 14. The country is expected to take in over 10,000 Afghan nationals for permanent citizenship. This lot will mostly include the people who helped the government during the crisis or throughout.

India, on the other hand, has successfully evacuated more than 300 people from Afghanistan as of August 22 , ANI reported.

The British Armed Forces have evacuated nearly 4,000 Afghan people since August 13, the UK’s MoD said in a tweet Sunday. The UK is aiming to resettle 20,000 Afghan nationals through it’s refugee scheme.