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Kabul, Afghanistan – For several weeks, the Taliban have been move Proceed to Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in northern Afghanistan.
With last week Occupy Herat and KandaharAs the Taliban get closer to the capital, Mazar, Jalalabad and Kabul remain the only major cities still under government control.
However, for the people of Magyar, fear first reached its climax when the Taliban launched an attack on the Dekhdadi area late last week. The area is only 11 kilometers (7 miles) from Mazar and is also home to the 209th Shaheen Regiment, a powerful force of 30,000 men designed to protect 114 areas in 10 provinces.
Although the attack by the armed group failed, it still caused serious panic among residents of one of the economic and cultural centers of Afghanistan.
When the news broke, Abdul Wahab was on a business trip in Kabul. He was immediately told to leave his tightly guarded hotel at 77 dollars per night and stay at a friend’s house.
“The rich and powerful go there, of course they will be targeted,” his friends urged.
Last Tuesday night, he spent with friends and then realized that he had to return to his home in Kabul to prevent the airport from closing. Before it collapsed, the airport in the western city of Herat was closed for several days due to fighting to reach the road leading to it.
By the next morning, thousands of people had the same idea. Not only did the one-way fare double to $150, but there were no tickets for several days. Fortunately, Wahab had friends at a travel agency and was able to get a ticket for himself.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Mazar-i-Sharif on August 11 to check the security situation [Afghan Presidential Palace via Reuters]However, before he went to the airport, he encountered another obstacle, looking for cash to pay for the flight.
After returning to Kabul, Wahab said: “The ATMs are out of money. The bank was filled with hundreds of people trying to withdraw as much money as possible.” Again, he had to borrow money from friends to buy tickets until he To reach the capital.
However, when he arrived at Mullana Jalaluddin Barki International Airport, it was obvious that having a ticket did not guarantee that a person could board the plane. He and others who tried to fly out at the worst of the panic described an overcrowded airport, with hundreds of people crowding every step of the way from the entrance to the security check to the check-in counter and departure terminal.
People hurried to the airport
Ava is at the airport with her mother, father and brother. With so many people and so crowded in the waiting hall, the 21-year-old began to experience panic attacks.
“The weather is hot and crowded. Everyone is shuffling and I can’t breathe,” she said at her sister’s house in Kabul. For Ava, her petite body and youth make it more difficult for her to navigate the crowd.
Both Wahab and Ava recalled the angry crowds trying to squeeze through the line and the concession booth.
“There was nothing on the food stalls. People stayed there for hours trying to get food or water.”
For Wahab, this meant that he had to wait 8 hours because his 4pm flight was changed and delayed until they finally left after midnight. The midnight flight itself is a special convenience because there is a back-to-back hourly flight, and each flight is as full as the other.
The crowd was so large that dozens of people were unable to board the plane even if they obtained the boarding pass because they could not pass the final security check before being allowed to enter the departure terminal.
Wahab said: “The security check is too rushed and they can’t check everyone, so even if they have a boarding pass in hand, people often miss their flights.”
‘All Magyars have escaped’
Although flights from Mazar have returned to normal, other cities are not so lucky. Late last week, flights in and out of Herat and Kandahar were cancelled, and both flights fell into the hands of the Taliban later last week.
A journalist based in Kandahar worried that the Taliban would target him for cooperating with foreign media. He said he was just waiting for the flight to Kabul.
“If we can reach Kabul, we can solve the problem,” he told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.
In order to prevent the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul from experiencing the same fate, the United States and the United Kingdom announced that they will send up to 3,600 soldiers to protect the airport and allow their civilians to evacuate. .
But as the Taliban get closer to Kabul, there is no guarantee for those who are afraid of the next few days. Travel agencies in the capital are already crowded with anxious people who are trying to leave the country to avoid the possibility of living under the Taliban again.
Airfare to Dubai and Istanbul, the two most common international destinations for Afghan tourists, also soared.
The price of an economy class ticket to Istanbul is usually between US$400 and US$800, and the current online price is between US$1,400 and US$2,300. For Dubai, the price has risen from US$300 to US$400 in previous months to US$800 to US$1,156.
With thousands of people constantly requesting visas, international travel also faces additional obstacles, namely trying to obtain a visa on an Afghan passport.
“All day long, everyone in the office is talking on the phone with travel agencies, embassies or commission staff, trying to get tickets and visas,” said a staff member of the Ministry of Finance.
Moving from one city to another, or if you are lucky, the fanaticism of another country is best described by an airport policeman in Mazar. Ava heard him say: “Everyone in Mazar escaped, no one Will stay. What will happen to those of us who cannot afford tickets? God has mercy on us.”
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