Kabul Evacuation Flights Take Off Empty As Taliban Close Off Airport

Daily Mail: Kabul evacuation flights take off EMPTY as Taliban close off airport and make it impossible for Western ex-pats to get through - while fighters REFUSE to let Afghans through meaning hundreds are being left behind every day

* Evacuation flights are leaving Kabul near-empty after Taliban fighters encircled the airport in a ring of steel

* Military jets able to carry hundreds of people are instead ferrying dozens - in one shocking case a German plane with space for 150 people departed the Afghan capital with just seven on board

* Afghans say the Taliban are blocking anyone who doesn't have a foreign passport getting to the airport, while foreigners say they have been caught up in the crush and are unable to get through

* Western nations vowed to take more than 100,000 Afghan refugees - pledge that appears increasingly hollow

Evacuation flights out of Kabul are taking off near-empty after the Taliban formed a ring of steel around the airport - blocking tens of thousands of desperate Afghans from entering as westerners said they are unable to get through the crush.

Flights bound for Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, France and Italy - which between them have vowed to rescue thousands of people - have been taking off with just a few dozen people on board despite having capacity to take hundreds.

In one shocking case, a German plane with room for 150 departed Kabul on Tuesday with just seven on board.

There are now thought to be around 50,000 people - mostly Afghans - gathered outside two entrances to Hamid Karzai airport - the civilian south side and military north side, both of which are under Taliban control.

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WNU Editor: Western governments do not know how many of their nationals are in Afghanistan right now. According to US news media reports, there are anywhere between 10,000 to 40,000 Americans in Afghanistan right now. Even the White House has no clue on how many of its citizens are in Afghanistan.

More News On The Exodus From Afghanistan

Afghanistan crisis: Chaos as Europeans scramble to evacuate Kabul -- BBC

Taliban tightens grip on Kabul airport as thousands of Americans await evacuation -- CBS News

For the Afghans who make it through Taliban checkpoints, Kabul airport is a gateway to a new world -- CNN

Dutch evacuation effort fails as empty plane departs Kabul -- Poltiico.eu

In Kabul, terrified Afghans wait for the call to safety -- DW

‘My wife and daughters are now hiding in a house in Kabul’: Desperate Colorado father pleads for help to get his family home after their flight out of Afghanistan was canceled when the Tablian rolled in -- Daily Mail

No official US evacuation plan for Americans outside Kabul, report says -- FOX News