7 people killed in melee near Kabul airport, Taliban blames US for evacuation chaos

The Taliban blamed on Sunday blamed the United States for the chaotic evacuation of thousands of people from Afghanistan a day after seven people lost their life in the stampede near the airport. The Taliban captured the Kabul last week, followed by President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country.

“America, with all its power and facilities...has failed to bring order to the airport. There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is chaos only at Kabul airport," Taliban official Amir Khan Mutaqi was quoted by media as saying on Sunday.

The Kabul airport is being secured by US and Turkish forces. The Taliban are patrolling outside.

An Afghan national told National Herald from Kabul that she twice tried to enter the airport a few days back but did not succeed due to massive crowds. The woman is a student at an Indian university and has valid Indian visa and air tickets to New Delhi.

The United States has set a deadline to complete the evacuations by August 31. But there are up to 15,000 Americans and 50,000 to 60,000 Afghan allies who need to be evacuated, and the deadline looks increasingly unfeasible.

Meanwhile, UK minister James Heappey on Sunday said the Taliban were now marshalling people into queues, smoothing up the process. "Today the queue is flowing better," Heappey was quoted by BBC as saying.

The Taliban are marshalling people into separate UK and US evacuation queues, which was "making a big difference", according to the minister.

Meanwhile, India on Sunday evacuated 168 people including 107 Indians from Kabul in a military transport aircraft of the IAF amid the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital city. This is in addition to a group of 87 Indians who landed in Delhi from Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe and a group of 135 Indians who were flown in from Doha. Both groups were evacuated from Kabul airport on Saturday.