US troops fire aerial shots as fleeing Afghans rush to Kabul airport

American troops fired shots in the air as thousands of Afghans
thronged the Kabul airport on Monday in a desperate attempt to fly out of the
country.  President Ashraf Ghani and his
close aides fled the Afghan capital city for an undisclosed location on Sunday
as the Taliban seized control of the presidential palace following a week-long sweeping
offensive across the country.   

“I feel very scared here. They are firing lots of shots
into the air,” news agency AFP quoted a witness as saying.

The US announced to deploy 6,000 troops at the Kabul airport
to bolster security and ensure safe departure of those departing the country
including its embassy personnel and citizens.

“At present we are completing a series of steps to secure the
Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of US and
allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights,” US
Department of State and the Defense Department said in a joint statement.

The US troops will be taking “over air traffic control” to
transfer out of the country “thousands of American citizens who have been
resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the US mission in
Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” the
statement said.

Also Read | US, 65 nations urge Taliban to let Afghans leave the country

Nearly 2,000 of the Afghans eligible for US Special
Immigrant Visas have already arrived in the US over the past two weeks. “For
all categories, Afghans who have cleared security screening will continue to be
transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional
locations for those yet to be screened,” the statement said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a series of calls to allies
including India which has reportedly put a military transport aircraft on
standby for evacuation of its embassy staff and citizens.

ALSO READ: Indian Air Force’s C-17 on standby for Afghanistan evacuation

The US is among more than 60 countries that issued a joint
statement calling for the protection of human life and property.