Chaos has descended Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power and it has forced people to flee their home country.
Horrifying videos of people falling from planes and residents clinging on and chasing after planes flooded social media last August 16, when Taliban occupied Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Here are some of the reasons why people are panicking and leaving the country:
• There is a fear that the new regime will be harsh towards those who worked for government forces while the civil liberties will also be curtailed.
• People fear the repeat of atrocities of the late 1990s when the Taliban ran the country as the fighters have again come to the power.
• The Western-backed government that ran the country for 20 years has collapsed in the face of advances by the Taliban groups.
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• Scenes of Afghans fearing for their lives and rushing to the airport were played out reversing the gains by US troops when they had ousted the Taliban in a matter of months after they invaded to root out al-Qaida.
• After the U.S. focus shifted to Iraq, the Taliban began to regroup and in recent years took over much of the Afghan countryside. Earlier after former President Donald Trump announced a plan to pull out and signed a deal with the Taliban that limited U.S. military action against them, President Joe Biden had announced that the last troops would leave by the end of August.
• The Taliban have said that they want to form an “inclusive, Islamic government” with other factions and are holding negotiations with senior politicians, including leaders in the former government, but fears of curtailment of civil liberties remain.
• Although in the peace deal signed with the United States last year, the Taliban pledged to fight “terrorism” and prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a base for attacks, but some security experts have warned that the place groups like al-Qaida may be able to re-emerge in Afghanistan, and “such groups could grow much faster than expected.”
• The constant fight between the Taliban and the Islamic State group affiliates could also bring insatiability to the region. The Islamic state has carried out a “wave of horrific attacks targeting its Shiite minority in recent years.” The Taliban have however condemned such attacks and the two groups have fought each other over territory.
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Earlier, an image of a plane filled with Afghans in a last-ditch effort to flee the country was captured in a military aircraft.
Some 640 people were onboard the US Air Force C-17 aircraft, far more than its listed capacity.
Others who were not on the list tried to push themselves to the ramp and enter the aircraft.
In a Defense One report, it was said that the plane belongs to the 436th Air Wing, based at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. (AW)
