The sound of gunfire reverberated around us – with Afghans desperate to get out of Kabul

Published

4 years ago

August 16, 2021

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As soon as the Taliban made their move on Kabul, as soon as their fighters started to appear on the streets, it was clear those most scared of their arrival would try to escape. With the city completely surrounded, the airport was the only place to go.

Even as we drove down the airport road towards the complex gates, hundreds of people had gathered trying to push their way inside.

Within hours that number had grown to thousands, by morning they were on the tarmac. The US and British military were overwhelmed.

Afghanistan live updates: All the latest as the Taliban establish new government

The hastily drawn up evacuation plans for thousands of foreigners and their Afghan workers slowly but surely fell apart.

From a rooftop we watched a US transporter plane approach Kabul airport through the late afternoon sun, Apache helicopters circling, watching the runway, checking if it was clear and safe to land.

Even a reaper drone had been dispatched to oversee the plane’s arrival.

But we watched as a decision was clearly made to abort the landing and the plane pulled away into the bright blue skies as gunfire crackled around us.

The reason is clear – utter pandemonium on the entire airfield, hundreds of Afghans having breached all security, swarming around air force planes, attempting to clamber onboard.

It’s desperate stuff and they are desperate to get out of this country – destination anywhere but here.

It was chaos outside the terminal as well, thousands had descended on to the airport road.

It was clogged up with people and vehicles.

Both the Afghan army and the Taliban were firing shots into the air at separate parts of the airport complex, trying to push the crowds back.

The airport is surrounded by huge blast walls, but people clambered up them, trying to make their way through gaps in the cement.

Throughout the day the sound of gunfire reverberated around us.

Two Apache helicopters circled above monitoring the source of the shooting – an overwatch of the mayhem below – and at times there was a clear exchange of fire – by whom remains unknown to us.

In contrast, the city proper remains remarkably calm. It is awash with Taliban fighters and to all intents and purposes they control every district.

Sky News filmed Taliban fighters on street corners and at intersections as they oversaw Kabul’s residents going about their day. Slowly but surely the capital was coming back to life after being deserted.

It’s still quiet by Kabul standards, but that is changing.

What’s striking is the amount of sophisticated equipment the Taliban have taken from the Afghan military – rows of armoured personnel carriers, Humvees and trucks are parked on major roads across the city.

The fighters patrol around town in their traditional pick-up trucks all armed to the teeth for a battle they have actually won.

Other fighters passed through their checkpoints in their newly-acquired military vehicles.

Qari Bashir, in his new special forces helmet, told us that people in Kabul are getting used to the idea of a new reformed Taliban.

“Alhamdulillah the security is now good, and the people are very happy.”

“Before we arrived, people thought that the mujahideen would steal their property and thought we would harm them, but now they see us and feel free, and all the markets are open,” he said.

The truth is that thousands, maybe even millions of people here – and much of the international community – don’t believe the Taliban have changed their ways, or forgive people with links to foreign powers. They however disagree.

“We assure people that there won’t be any problems for them, they should start living their normal lives, the Emirate announced amnesty for them yesterday,” Mulawi Rahmani, a Taliban fighter stationed outside the presidential palace, said.

While the Taliban creates its new government and the world watches on, the effort to remove foreigners and their Afghan employees continues.

The truth is that in the chaos the foreigners will be the priority.

And like Afghanistan itself – the Afghans will likely be left behind.

World

Drones and salami: How Putin is testing the West with Poland airspace violation

Published

7 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Drones and salami: How Putin is testing the West with Poland airspace violation

The unprecedented Russian drone attacks on Poland are both a test and a warning. How Europe and NATO respond could be crucial to security on this continent.

The Russians are past masters at what’s called “salami slicing”. Tactics that use a series of smaller actions to produce a much bigger outcome that otherwise would have been far more provocative.

The Kremlin is probing the West with gradual but steady escalation. A British Council building and an EU installation are bombed in Kyiv; a senior EU official’s plane’s GPS is jammed.

On their own each provocation produces nothing more than rhetoric from the West – but new lines are crossed and Russia is emboldened.

Ukraine war latest: NATO chief sends message to Putin

Putin is good at this.

He used salami slicing tactics masterfully in 2014 with his “little green men” invasion of Crimea, a range of ambiguous military and diplomatic tactics to take control. The West’s confused delay in responding sealed Crimea’s fate.

He has just taken a larger slice of salami with his drone attacks on Poland.

They are of course a test of NATO’s readiness to deploy its Article 5 obligations. Russia has attacked a member state, allies believe deliberately.

Will NATO trigger the all for one, one for all mechanism in Poland’s defence and attack Russia? Not very likely.

But failing to respond projects weakness. Putin will see the results of his test and plot the next one.

Expect lots of talk of sanctions but remember they failed to avert this invasion and have failed to persuade Russia to reverse it. The only sanctions likely to bite are the ones the US president refuses to approve, on Russia’s oil trade.

So how are the drones also a warning? Well, they pose a question.

Vladimir Putin is asking the West if it really wants to become more involved in this conflict with its own forces. Europeans are considering putting boots on the ground inside Ukraine after any potential ceasefire.

If this latest attack is awkward and complicated and hard to respond to now, what happens if Russia uses hybrid tactics then?

Deniable, ambiguous methods that the Russians excel in could make life very difficult for the alliance if it is embroiled in Ukraine.

Think twice before committing your troops there, Russia is warning the West.

There is more Europe could do.

It could stop buying Russian energy, which it is still astonishingly importing – more than 20 billion euros a year at the last count.

It could use its massive economic advantage (20 times that of Russia’s, and that was before the war) to do more to fund Ukraine’s defence.

While it continues to do neither, expect more excruciating slices of the salami to come.

World

Riot police clash with ‘Block Everything’ protesters in Paris

Published

12 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Riot police clash with 'Block Everything' protesters in Paris

Riot police have clashed with protesters in Paris after they took to the streets in response to calls to ‘Block Everything’ over discontent with the French government.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the French capital and other cities, including Marseille and Montpellier, in response to the online ‘Bloquons Tout’ campaign, which is urging people to strike, block roads, and other public services.

The government has deployed more than 80,000 officers to respond to the unrest, which has seen 200 arrested nationwide so far, according to police, and comes on the same day the new prime minister is being sworn in.

Demonstrators were seen rolling bins into the middle of roads to stop cars, while police rushed to remove the makeshift blockades as quickly as possible.

Tear gas was used by police outside Paris‘s Gare du Nord train station, where around 1,000 gathered, clutching signs declaring Wednesday a public holiday.

Others in the city blocked the entrance to a high school where firefighters were forced to remove burnt objects from a barricade.

Elsewhere in the country, traffic disruptions were reported on major roads in Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, and Lyon.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters a group of protesters had torched a bus in the Breton city of Rennes.

Fourth prime minister in a year

The ‘Block Everything’ rallies come amid spiralling national debt and are similar to the Yellow Vest movement that broke out over tax increases during President Emmanuel Macron’s first term.

‘Bloquons tout’ was first spearheaded online by right-wing groups in May but has since been embraced by the left and far left, experts say.

On Monday, former Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a vote of no confidence, and was replaced by Sebastien Lecornu at the Hotel Matignon on Wednesday afternoon, becoming the fourth person in the job in just 12 months.

A teacher, Christophe Lalande, taking part in the Paris protests, told reporters at the scene: “Bayrou was ousted, [now] his policies must be eliminated.”

Elsewhere, union member Amar Lagha said: “This day is a message to all the workers of this country: that there is no resignation, the fight continues, and a message to this government that we won’t back down, and if we have to die, we’ll die standing.”

World

Israel has crossed a huge diplomatic red line with Qatar strike

Published

12 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Israel has crossed a huge diplomatic red line with Qatar strike

A lot has changed in Qatar in just 24 hours.

Israel brought its war with Hamas to the streets of Doha and people can’t quite believe it.

The sound of explosions on Tuesday afternoon in a residential neighbourhood has shattered the sense of peace and security that defines life here.

Israel-Hamas latest – Qatar attack puts talks in doubt

It’s also shattered the critical sense of trust needed in these fragile ceasefire talks.

Qatar has played a critical role as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas for the last two years and those diplomatic efforts have been blown apart by this unprecedented attack.

Qatar has reacted with absolute fury and it has shocked and angered other Gulf neighbours, who, like Qatar, stake their reputation on being hubs of regional peace and stability.

Donald Trump is clearly unhappy, too. A strike on Qatar – a key American ally and home to Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military hub in the Middle East – is seen as a dangerous escalation.

There’s no suggestion that permission was sought by Israel from its own closest ally in Washington.

And there’s little clarity if they were even forewarned by the IDF, as the White House said it learned of the attack from its own military.

Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was then tasked with alerting Qatar immediately, but by this point, it was too late.

According to Qatar’s foreign ministry, that call came 10 minutes after the first explosion was heard in Doha.

It’s clear Israel has crossed a huge diplomatic red line here.

Qatar plays a pivotal role on the international stage, punching well above its diplomatic weight for a country of its size.

For decades, it has hosted negotiations in a number of conflicts, providing a safe haven for warring parties to hold talks.

Arguably, far more is achieved in Doha’s many five-star hotels than on any battlefield.

But there was never any sense that you were in danger here.

During the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan in August 2021, I interviewed the Taliban in Doha.

It was a constructive and civil interview where their international leader presented their position to the world on Sky News.

It was vital information and there was never any sense we were at risk in meeting to talk here.

There is so much at stake in the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, children are starving in Gaza and 48 Israeli hostages have not been returned home.

What was Israel thinking, carrying out this attack? And was it worth it?

They claim it was a “precise strike”, but none of the Hamas leadership were taken out as they claimed was their objective.

Five lower-ranking officials were killed along with a member of Qatar’s security forces. What it has done is left any hope of ceasefire talks in tatters.

For many, this was a huge miscalculation by Benjamin Netanyahu.