Kabul: At least 20 people have died in the last seven days in and around Kabul airport during the evacuation effort after the Taliban guerrillas took over the capital of Afghanistan last week, a NATO official said on Sunday.
“The crisis outside Kabul airport is unfortunate.
Our focus is to evacuate all foreigners as soon as possible,” the official, who was looking for anonymously, told Reuters.
The crowd has grown at the airport every day during the past week, hinders operations as the United States and other countries seeking to evacuate thousands of diplomats and civilians and many Afghans.
“Our troops maintain a strict distance from the outside of the Kabul Airport to prevent clashes with the Taliban,” NATO’s official added.
The Taliban Swift takeover has triggered the fear of retaliation and returned to the hard version of Islamic Law of the Sunni Muslim group carried out when it came to power two decades ago.