Tear gas, guns used as crowd control at Kabul airport

A day after the Pentagon claimed to be restoring order at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, military personnel on Friday used tear gas and fired guns into the air as means of controlling the large and chaotic crowd, The Wall Street Journal reports. It was not immediately clear as to what country the soldiers were from.

Troops are also moving just outside the airport's perimeter, surrounded by Taliban, "to disperse crowds and clear the way for families struggling to get in," the Journal reports. To reach the airport, Afghans and foreigners must pass through dangerous Taliban checkpoints, where fighters are firing into the air and using violence to control the sea of people.

According to German military officials, getting people through Kabul, past the checkpoints, and inside the airport "has proven immensely difficult," per the Journal. The militant group is reportedly using the checkpoints to search for "key individuals from the ousted government."

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

One desperate Afghan, who worked for a U.S. contractor and has an approved U.S. Special Immigrant Visa, reportedly abandoned his airport evacuation attempts Friday morning after an all-night melee, in which he carried his children on his shoulders so as to prevent them from being crushed, left him exhausted.

"We were stuck between the aggression of the Taliban and U.S. forces in the gate," the man told the Journal. "I don't know if I will ever be able to get out." Read more at The Wall Street Journal.