{"id":59440,"date":"2021-08-16T17:05:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T17:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/16\/kabul-flights-grounded-as-troops-work-to-remove-crowds-from-tarmac\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:05:35","slug":"kabul-flights-grounded-as-troops-work-to-remove-crowds-from-tarmac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/08\/16\/kabul-flights-grounded-as-troops-work-to-remove-crowds-from-tarmac\/","title":{"rendered":"Kabul flights grounded as troops work to remove crowds from tarmac"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crowds swarmed the runway at the Kabul airport as people desperately tried to get flights out of the country in the hours after the Taliban took over.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

There are about 2,500 troops on the ground at Hamid Karzai International Airport as of Monday, and their main mission is to clear the flight line so more American and Afghan civilians<\/a> can get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Afghanistan\u2019s capital falling to Taliban control<\/a> Sunday, thousands of civilians have rushed to the Kabul airport, seeking any possible escape. So many have crowded the tarmacs that U.S. soldiers, Marines and Turkish troops are working clear the crowds so flights can resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly seen all the dramatic video coming from the airport today and we obviously don\u2019t want anyone else to get hurt,\u201d Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, referencing videos of civilians clinging to an Air Force C-17 Globemaster as it took off. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to work methodically in coming hours to restore a safe and secure environment so that air operations can resume.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby could not confirm whether video of Afghans falling to their deaths as the jet gained altitude are legitimate. The Associated Press reported Monday that several had died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the U.S. embassy shut down, troops on the ground are focused on the airport, Kirby said. In the past day, he said, American troops have shot and killed two armed assailants who fired on them at the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby could not confirm whether the shooters were Taliban, or when the shootings took place. He could not confirm a preliminary report of a wounded American service member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe anticipate in the coming hours that that we\u2019ll be able to restore air operations at the airport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t