Taliban seals off Kabul airport

August 29, 2021 11:56

The Taliban on Saturday sealed off Kabul airport in order to prevent large crowds from leaving the war-torn country as final NATO evacuation flights left Afghanistan.

New layers of checkpoints sprang up on roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed Taliban fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces, reported Euronews.

The massive US-led airlift wound down ahead of an August 31 deadline of the Taliban.

Britain too began bringing its troops home from Afghanistan, as a Royal Air Force plane carrying soldiers landed at the RAF Brize Norton airbase northwest of London.

The troops are part of a contingent of 1,000 that has been based in Kabul to help run the airlift, reported Euronews.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Friday to "shift heaven and earth" to get more people from Afghanistan to Britain by other means, though no concrete details have been offered.

Italy's final evacuation flight of refugees from Afghanistan also landed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport.

The Italian Air Force C-130J with 58 Afghan citizens aboard arrived Saturday morning, some 17 hours after it departed from the Kabul airport and after a planned stopover, reported Euronews.

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