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On Monday, after Taliban fighters occupied the capital, thousands of Afghans desperate to leave the country crowded the Kabul airport, where five people were killed, prompting the US military to suspend its evacuation to clear the airport.
Crowd gathered at the airport seeking escape, including some Close to the U.S. military transport aircraft According to footage released by a media company, it was taxiing on the runway.
A U.S. defense official told Reuters that the U.S. temporarily suspended all evacuated flights from Kabul to evacuate people gathered at the airport.
The official, who asked not to be named, did not say how long the suspension will last.
Taliban officials announced the end of the 20-year war and issued a statement aimed at quelling the panic that has been accumulating in Kabul, because the organization was in power from 1996 to 2001 and defeated the U.S.-backed Afghan army when foreign troops retreated.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday because the Taliban entered Kabul with little opposition, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
It is not clear how the five people died at the airport on Monday. A U.S. official stated that the military fired into the air to stop people trying to forcibly board a military flight that would take U.S. diplomats and embassy staff out of the city.
A witness said more than 20 hours after waiting for the flight to take off that it is not clear whether the five people were shot or killed in the stampede. A US official at the airport could not be immediately reached for comment.
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