Thursday, August 26, 2021
“As close together as bricks”
Attack risk – Kabul airport is still filling up
Eyewitnesses report a huge crowd in front of the airport gates, even though several embassies warn of an acute threat of terrorism from IS. A representative of the British government even believes an attack within hours is possible.
Despite the warnings from the USA and its allies of attacks by the IS militia, huge crowds crowd in front of the entrances to Kabul Airport. The area is “incredibly overcrowded,” says a Western diplomat. An estimated 1,500 people alone with U.S. passports or visas for the United States continued to attempt to get onto the airport grounds.
According to his own statement, an eyewitness has been at a gate in the eastern part of the airport for the third day, but he had never seen that many people on any day before. The people are “as close to one another as bricks in a wall”. You couldn’t get a meter. He said he was about 200 meters from the entrance and it would cost his child or his wife his life if he tried to climb 200 meters. In a video transmitted by the eyewitness, people can be seen waving with documents in their hands. They shout “Help me!” – help me – and stand shoulder to shoulder in the blazing sun. There are women and children in the crowd, and babies can be heard crying.
Since the militant Islamist Taliban came to power, thousands of people have tried to flee Afghanistan. For more than a week they have been gathering around various entrances to the airport to get on an evacuation flight. However, these will be discontinued in the next few days due to the imminent withdrawal of US troops.
Attack possible within hours
Thousands of US soldiers had recently secured Kabul airport. The German embassy in Afghanistan and other agencies are currently warning of the threat of terrorism around the airport. The US Embassy has asked US citizens who are currently at Abbey Gate, East Gate or North Gate to leave the area “immediately”.
A representative of the British government believes a terrorist attack at the airport in Kabul is possible within hours. When asked by the broadcaster Sky News whether an attack could occur within the next few hours, Secretary of State of Defense James Heappey said explicitly “yes” in the morning. In the course of the week, the secret services became more and more certain that a “serious, immediate, fatal attack” threatened the airport or the centers used by western troops.
“With the clock ticking until the end of the month, we have to share this very, very real threat with the people of Kabul and advise them to move away from the airport instead of coming,” said the state secretary. The station also quotes an unnamed, high-ranking British source who spoke of a “very high risk of a terrorist attack” on the evacuation mission in Kabul.
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