6,000 people at Kabul airport processed and will soon board planes

This satellite image from Planet Labs shows people on the tarmac at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 16, 2021. Planet Labs, Inc./AP

The Foreign Ministry sent a notice to the thousands of local workers at the Kabul Embassy on Wednesday, telling them they could come to the airport for evacuation flights, according to the news verified by CNN.

Some of the Afghans who made it into the airport were bloody and spiritually distraught having lost most of their belongings on the way, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

But some decided they didn’t even want to continue the dangerous journey despite being desperate to get out of the country, multiple sources told CNN. Others who took the dangerous risk had to turn back after an untenable situation.

“I’ve decided that the Taliban would rather shoot me in the head than get stuck in this situation,” said an Afghan who worked at the embassy for years describing his trip to CNN.

He drove to the airport with his family, including young children, at 4 a.m. local time, only to be caught on the edge of the airport by a horde of thousands of people who made him fear for his life. He watched his two-year-old son become dehydrated and men tried to touch his wife inappropriately. The gates stayed closed too long.

“We had to go home,” said the Afghan, describing people with guns and knives in the crowd. “I won’t go back. The Americans put me in a very bad situation. You know it. You endanger the life of our family. “

The US military is in liaison with the local Taliban commander in Kabul, and discussions are under way to “ensure that the vulnerable Afghans, special immigrant visa applicants, and other Afghan citizens we want to pull through” . “Said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Thursday during a briefing in front of the camera.

Kirby took note of reports of some hostile actions by the Taliban against Afghans on their way to the airport, but by and large, US officials say the Taliban are largely honoring their commitment to safe passage, pointing to evidence: the Afghans and Americans who could get to the airport.

President Biden said yesterday the US intends to evacuate between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghans in total, a number that includes Afghan visa and refugee applicants and their families.

Biden made no pledge to maintain U.S. troop presence at Kabul airport until that number of Afghans is evacuated, but said the U.S. troop presence would remain in place until all Americans wanting to leave the country left outside are.