OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
Startling footage and images surfaced of Afghans storming Kabul’s Karzai International Airport and attempting to cling to departing planes.
Seven people in total died during the airport evacuation. Now we are beginning to learn who they were, including one young man who was just 17 years old.
According to a VICE News report, the boy who died was identified as “Reza.” The family identified Reza’s body after witnesses took it outside of the airport, reports VICE. “His legs and arms were gone. I brought him back myself,” said the family member.
Afghans appeared to be more willing to risk their lives and die than live under Taliban rule. CNN reported that Taliban fighters flooded the capital and are “smiling and victorious.”
The Taliban took over the city of 6 million people in a matter of hours — barely firing a shot.
Afghanistan’s tragedy right now in Kabul international airport: Afghan youth on the engine of American plane to leave the country. pic.twitter.com/CoTS8sq9c3
— Muslim Shirzad (@MuslimShirzad) August 16, 2021
Taliban fighters are seeing carrying guns and shouting, “Death to America.” “They tell us they’re here to maintain law and order,” CNN reported regarding a Taliban commander. “Everything is under control” and “will be fine,” Taliban commanders said to CNN.
Now we have learned that an Afghan family has identified their son as one of the people who died at Kabul’s international airport after falling from an evacuating U.S. military plane.
The United States took over the airport on Sunday for the purpose of evacuating embassy personnel and the diplomatic team.
Afghans broke through security and crowded on the airstrip and attempted to cling to departing planes. The U.S. suspended flights on Monday.
American troops have been trying to secure the airport. U.S. troops have reportedly been under fire, at least twice, while at the airport. Two armed men were killed by US troops at the airport.
Exclusive- A clear video (from other angle) of men falling from C-17. They were Clinging to some parts of the plane that took off from Kabul airport today. #Talibans #Afghanistan #Afghanishtan pic.twitter.com/CMNW5ngqrK
— Aśvaka – آسواکا News Agency (@AsvakaNews) August 16, 2021
Here’s what we learned about the child who died:
The child, identified by the news outlet as Reza to protect his family, heard a rumor that the United States and Canada were going to take 20,000 people with them out of Kabul, his family told the news agency. So Reza and his younger brother, 16, left to the airport “without telling anyone” with the hope of fleeing the country — which was now under the control of the Taliban.
“Everyone is trying to run away,” an unnamed family member told Vice News for an article published Wednesday. “It is in fear of the Taliban, they are killing people. They have all left to the airport from lack of jobs and opportunity. They want to go abroad.”
Scenes from the airport earlier this week went viral on social media, and one in particular — a video of two blips falling from an airborne plane hundreds if not thousands of feet from the ground — showed Reza in the distance falling from the sky.
Seven people in total died during the airport evacuation, including an unspecified number of Afghans who fell from an airplane, according to U.S. authorities, reports The Associated Press. One person’s remains were found stuck in a plane’s landing gear, although it’s unclear whether that is the same plane from which Reza fell.
After Reza fell to his death, witnesses recovered his body and that of another person who fell from the same plane. His family, not knowing where Reza or his brother were, traveled to the airport after calling his cell phone and getting a response from a stranger who had found it at the airport.
The NY Post reported, “Thousands of Afghans have been filmed desperately chasing after and clinging to a US Air Force plane as it taxied down the runway — with multiple people plunging to their deaths after the aircraft took off in the frantic attempt to flee the country after the Taliban takeover.”
“US officials said seven people were killed, including two shot dead by American forces, after crowds of Afghans stormed Kabul’s international airport on Monday and swarmed the tarmac as US military flights were preparing to leave,” the report added.
Here are some of the images:
This news comes as the dire situation continues to spiral out of control following Biden’s precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops.
The Biden administration’s failure to understand the movement of the Taliban and provide effective preparation with the Afghan government has had devastating consequences.
