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Photos and Videos From Afghanistan Airport and Streets
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Decades of war have left millions of Afghans displaced, and the latest burst of fighting this summer has only further swelled their numbers. Many have taken refuge in Kabul, filling parks and other public spaces with a new generation of men, women and children who have seen firsthand how war rolls through towns, villages and cities, uprooting those in its path.
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Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
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Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
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Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The few square miles that encompass Kabul’s airport and its environs had by Friday settled into a tale of two cities: At the airport, American-led forces are firmly in control and trying to keep evacuations moving, packing whoever they can onto flights out. On the streets, the Taliban reign, wielding clubs and whips and, at times, opening fire to keep control as thousands of people swarm the airport, desperate to get out.
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Photos by The New York Times and Afp – Getty Images. Videos by The Associated Press and Reuters. Text by Matthew Rosenberg.
Scenes that would have been unthinkable only a week ago continued unfolding on Friday across Kabul nearly as quickly as the Taliban swept through Afghanistan.
Khalil Haqqani, a leader of one of the most powerful and violent Taliban factions, appeared at Friday prayers, the high point in the Islamic week. Mr. Haqqani, 48, is on both the U.S. and United Nations terrorist lists. Along with several members of the family, he is now playing a prominent role in the new Taliban regime.
Backed by Pakistan’s intelligence service, the Haqqani network, as his family’s faction is known, has long been one of the Taliban’s most effective and violent branches, responsible for kidnapping Americans, launching complex suicide attacks and conducting targeted assassinations. To a great many Afghans and foreigners who have followed the war, Mr. Haqqani’s emergence in the capital was a stark reminder of who now runs Afghanistan. Driving home that point, Mr. Haqqani showed up carrying an American-made M4 rifle and was accompanied by a security detail dressed in high-end American gear that had been supplied to Afghan commandos.
Photos by Jim Huylebroek and Victor J. Blue for The New York Times. Text by Matthew Rosenberg.
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Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
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Shakib Rahmani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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Shakib Rahmani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Amid the clatter of gunshots, panicked Afghans and foreigners continued to swarm Kabul’s international airport Thursday, desperately trying to get aboard evacuation flights to safety. The Taliban beat and harassed people struggling to reach the military airport, where 7,000 Americans and other evacuees have been flown out of Afghanistan since Aug. 14, the Pentagon said. There was continued chaos as gunmen manhandled people and fired into the air.
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
Crowds gathered
trying to escape city
The Pentagon said Thursday that 5,200 U.S. troops were on the ground and that multiple airport gates were now open. The State Department said 6,000 people had been processed inside the facility and were awaiting flights.
KABUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
KABUL INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
KABUL INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
Photographs by The New York Times. Video by Mirwais Khan Amiri for Reuters and The Associated Press. Text by David Zucchino.
On Thursday, Afghanistan’s Hazara minority, most of whom are Shiite Muslims, observed Ashura, in which Shiites commemorate the death of Imam Hussain, grandson of the prophet Muhammad.
Ashura events in Kabul have been attacked by suicide bombers several times in recent years, with some of the bombings claimed by the Islamic State, which considers Hazaras heretics. Hazaras have been attacked and persecuted in Afghanistan for generations.
The Taliban sent representatives to events, and there were no immediate reports of violence, Agence France-Presse reported.
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Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
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Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
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Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
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Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
In addition to Afghanistan’s annual Independence Day holiday, Ashura on Thursday was Afghanistan’s first major public observance since the Taliban seized power. It was regarded as a test of Taliban promises to protect civilians and refrain from revenge killings. The Taliban, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, have persecuted and massacred Hazaras in the past.
Photographs by The New York Times. Text by David Zucchino.
In a remarkable display of defiance, Afghans took to the streets Thursday for a second day to protest the Taliban takeover of the country, flying Afghanistan’s national flag during the country’s annual Independence Day celebrations.
Taliban gunmen violently broke up a raucous protest by about 200 demonstrators near the presidential palace in Kabul, but protests also broke out in other cities. Several protesters waving national flags were reported killed in the eastern city of Asadabad when Taliban gunmen opened fire and caused a stampede, Reuters reported.
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Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
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Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
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Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
With the Taliban takeover, Independence Day has taken on a renewed significance, seized on by protesters as a symbol of their defiance against Taliban rule.
“Long live Afghanistan,” protesters can be heard shouting.
Photographs by The New York Times. Video by Jordan Bryon for The New York Times. Text by David Zucchino.
Catch Up: Earlier This Week
As Taliban fighters poured into the undefended capital on Sunday, scenes of panic and chaos unfolded in Kabul. The American-backed government collapsed as ministers abandoned their offices and as soldiers and police officers peeled off their uniforms to blend in with civilians.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country with a small team of advisers, leaving Afghans who had served the government — or the 20-year American military and diplomatic effort — to fend for themselves. The U.S. mission to Afghanistan came to a sudden and shocking end, two decades after American forces toppled the Taliban-led government following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Taliban commanders and fighters barged into the vacated presidential palace, posing for photographers and delivering an impromptu news conference. One commander sat at Mr. Ghani’s ornate wooden desk. The head of the Presidential Protection Service, which had guarded the palace for most of the last two decades, shook hands with a Taliban commander and announced the handover of power.
Meanwhile, thousands of terrified Afghans swarmed the international airport, desperate to board a flight — any flight — out of the country. Some young men clung to the underside of an American military transport plane as it taxied down the runway, and others ran alongside and in front of the departing flight.
Many Afghan men broke into tears as they begged airport officials to put their families aboard planes, even as most civilian flights were canceled in favor of military evacuations. Other Afghans tried to fight their way to the military side of the airport, past Taliban gunmen who fired into the air and beat people with rifle butts, clubs and whips.
transcript
transcript
Gunfire in the Streets: Protests Met by Force in Afghanistan
The Taliban faced off against protestors in the northeastern city of Jalalabad. Taliban soldiers fired shots into the crowd and beat protesters and journalists.
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[gunfire] [gunfire]
On Wednesday, protests against the Taliban’s newly declared Islamic Emirate broke out in the eastern city of Jalalabad, as well as in the southeastern city of Khost. In Jalalabad, Taliban fighters shot at protesters, killing at least two, according to Afghan media reports. Some protesters raised Afghanistan government flags, which had been ripped down by the Taliban and were replaced with the white and black Taliban flag.
Photographs by The New York Times. Text by David Zucchino.
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