Westerners and visa holders trying to flee Afghanistan cannot get into Kabul airport today because of ‘huge crowds’ of ‘terrified locals’ who are blocking the entrances, MailOnline has been told.
Paul Farthing, a British ex-Marine who now lives in Kabul, described the situation as a ‘clusterf***’ – saying at least one British and one Canadian ex-pat have been forced to turn back from the airport already today, adding that he cannot even get as far as the Taliban checkpoint before the airport because there are so many people.
Australian and Canadian citizens also said it is ‘not possible to reach the airstrip because there is ‘lots of firing’ and ‘too many people.
UK defense secretary Ben Wallace insisted that Taliban guards are letting people through checkpoints, but those on the ground painted a very different picture – saying Islamists appeared to have little idea who to allow through while dishing out beatings, lashings and firing shots seemingly at random (left).
Such is the desperation among crowds at the airport that women have resorted to passing babies over barbed wire to soldiers in a vain attempt to get them out of the country.
Meanwhile, the UN warned that fighters are going through crowds to hunt down anyone they suspect of working with US or British troops for ‘punishment’ – despite publicly insisting there will be no reprisal attacks.
