Taliban Urge Afghan Crowd Outside Kabul Airport To Return Home: Report

New Delhi: The Taliban have urged crowds of Afghans who remain outside Kabul airport, in a desperate attempt to leave the country, to go back home.

A day after Taliban fighters fired at protesters – killing three as per witnesses, the militants now say they do not want to hurt anyone, news agency Reuters reported.

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While the Taliban managed to seize Kabul rapidly without much violence, the scenes at the airport have been chaotic with Afghans making desperate attempts to leave the war-torn country to escape the Taliban rule.

As per the Reuters report quoting a NATO official and a Taliban member, twelve people have been killed in and around the airport since Sunday. The fatalities were caused either by gunshots or by stampedes, the Taliban official said.

The member urged people who do not have the legal right to travel abroad to go home. “We don’t want to hurt anyone at the airport,” said he said.

The comes as the crowd outside the Kabul airport on Thursday was reportedly told by a Taliban member that only people with travelling documents will be allowed access.

The report further crediting a Western security official states that about 8,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since Sunday. The U.S. military is in charge of the airport as Taliban patrol outside the premises, around its walled and fenced perimeter.

Witnesses on Wednesday said that Taliban gunmen prevented people from getting into the airport compound.

“It’s a complete disaster. The Taliban were firing into the air, pushing people, beating them with AK-47s,” said a person trying to get out on Wednesday as quoted by Reuters.

A Taliban member responded by saying that commanders and soldiers fired into the air to disperse the crowd. According to witnesses, the situation became calmer on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in the latest statement, Taliban commander Waheedullah Hashimi told Reuters that the group is still finalising how they will govern the country but there will be no democracy as it has no base in Afghanistan.  

“We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it,” Hashimi was quoted as saying.