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

Trump has ‘heated phone call’ with Netanyahu over strike targeting Hamas in Qatar

Published

11 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Trump has 'heated phone call' with Netanyahu over strike targeting Hamas in Qatar

Donald Trump had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his military targeted Hamas inside Qatar, according to a report.

The American president told Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday that the decision to strike inside the US ally’s territory was not wise, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing senior administration officials.

The Israeli prime minister responded by saying he had a brief window to launch the airstrike and took the opportunity, according to the newspaper.

A second call between the two leaders later that day was cordial, with Mr Trump asking Mr Netanyahu if the attack had been successful, the publication added.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of the Islamist group Hamas with the attack in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday.

Hamas has said its top leaders survived the airstrike, but five members were killed, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator Khalil al Hayya.

The Israeli military operation in Doha has been widely condemned internationally and was particularly sensitive as Qatar has been hosting and mediating in negotiations which are trying to bring about a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will”.

Qatar has hit back at him, saying his comments about the Gulf nation hosting a Hamas office were “reckless”.

Meanwhile, the Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, has said that if Israel failed to kill Hamas leaders on Tuesday, it would succeed next time.

“We have put terrorists on notice, wherever they may be… we’re going to pursue them, and we’re going to destroy those who will destroy us,” he said.

The airstrike took place shortly after Hamas claimed responsibility for Monday’s shooting at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem that killed six people.

In another development, Sir Keir Starmer has had talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Downing Street, with Mr Herzog saying they argued during a “tough meeting”.

PM condemns Israeli action

The prime minister has condemned the Israeli attack in Qatar, and raised the matter with the president, saying it was “completely unacceptable”.

“He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Israel has been angered by Britain’s plans to join several other Western countries, including France and Canada, in recognising a Palestinian state later this month – unless Israel meets conditions including a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies,” Mr Herzog said at an event at Chatham House.

He also proposed offering a “fact-finding mission” to Israel, “sitting with us and studying the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.

“Because we have full answers, and we are fully transparent,” he said.

World

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

Published

19 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

23 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.”