The French embassy in Kabul has become an 'internally displaced persons camp'

The French embassy remains the last operating Western mission in Kabul after the Taliban swept the Afghan capital earlier this week, and hundreds of Afghans have reportedly been camping around the compound over the past three days in the hopes of entering and eventually finding a way out of the country, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The situation reportedly reached a point on Tuesday night at which the embassy ran out of food rations and water to hand out to people, though a convoy of 10 buses made their way to the compound and transferred folks to a French military plane en route to Abu Dhabi.

"The embassy had turned into an internally displaced persons camp," Stéphane Nicolas, the head of operations for consulting firm ATR, who sheltered in the embassy until Tuesday night, told the Journal. "Behavior changes in this kind of place. Everyone is under shock, they know that they have lost everything, and if they venture out they may die." Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up