Taliban fighters on a pick-up truck move around a market area, flocked with local Afghan people at the Kote Sangi area of Kabul on August 17, 2021, after Taliban seized control of the capital following the collapse of the Afghan government. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi / AFP) (Photo by HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)
A few dozen South Africans were caught in the drama when thousands of Afghans stormed the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on Sunday as the Taliban announced it had taken control of the country again.
None of them were in danger and most were evacuated by Wednesday. The department of international relations and cooperation said it was aware of seven South Africans who were in contact with the department to arrange for a safe passage out of the country.
Anil Sooklal, the department’s deputy director general, told Newzroom Afrika the South African mission in Islamabad, Pakistan, is assisting citizens who need help. Most of the companies they work for have been arranging their evacuation.
A group of South African pilots, who fly for United Nations agencies, arrived safely in Dubai on Tuesday night. A family member of one pilot told the Mail & Guardian that they had abandoned their aircraft at Kabul airport on instructions from their employers. They may return to fetch them when the situation in Afghanistan calms down.
In some of the videos of the airport masses of people can be seen pouring over the parked aircraft marked as those of the UN.
One South African who has been involved in aviation security in Afghanistan for the past 20 years spoke of how the situation unfolded on Sunday as thousands of Afghani’s flooded the operational side of the airport.
“There is a low cost neighbourhood on the southern side of the airport and the masses just broke through the security gates on that side to get to the aircraft,” he said.
Air crews for local airline Kam Air were preparing an aircraft on Sunday morning for a group of German citizens leaving Kabul when they were told Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani needed to leave the country before 4pm.
Two airbuses were hastily prepared, one aircraft for Ghani and members of his government to fly to Uzbekistan and the other for another group of Afghan officials and their families.
The third aircraft was parked on the airport’s hardstand and not scheduled to go anywhere.
“Literally within hours chaos ensued as rumours spread that any Afghan who could make it to the airport and find a space on one of the American aircraft departing would be given visas to leave the country. Mobs of people just descended on the airport,” the South African told Mail & Guardian on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive situation.
“Some expected the parked aircraft [which has since featured in social images] to also depart. When they realised it was not going anywhere, they started damaging every possible part of the aircraft. They kicked out the windows and ripped oxygen masks stored above each seat.
“They even defecated and urinated on the controls. These are sensitive [instruments] that were basically destroyed in the process. Some of the people were jumping on the roof of the aircraft causing irreparable damage. Many of the airline’s ground staff just left because they feared they would be attacked by the mobs next.”
As far as could be established most of the controllers left the country on the same aircraft transporting hundreds of Afghan officials and their families out of the country. Videos on social media showed an American C17 cargo plane on final approach with two Apache attack helicopters trying to clear the runway of people to enable the aircraft to land.
“US military air traffic controllers have since taken over the control tower after the airport was shut down for all air traffic on Monday just to normalise some control,” the aviation security specialist said.
Since then, only military and evacuation aircraft have been allowed to land.
Another group of South African security specialists have been protecting a compound for foreign journalists in Kabul together with local guards. According to sources in the expatriate community in the capital, members of the Taliban visited the compound on Monday morning after taking control of the city.
“The Taliban members were friendly and had tea with the group, asking them what they were doing,” a source said. “The security guys told them and showed them their weapons, as well as their permits issued to them by the now fallen national government. They have been working in Kabul for quite some time.”
“The Taliban [members] told them that they should carry on with their work and shared telephone numbers should anyone bother them. The Taliban also registered the serial numbers of their weapons and just asked them not to move around in the streets while armed but stay within the compound until everything calms down. Then the Taliban left. We don’t know how the situation will develop from here, but the guys are probably going to continue with their work for the time being.”
Kabul and its surroundings this week remained pitch dark as the Taliban in its advance cut the city’s electricity supply.
“There is nobody on the streets and everybody is holed up in their homes. The Taliban is patrolling the streets to prevent any criminality and looting. The scenes at the airport actually reminded me of the recent looting and burning of South African shopping centres. It’s mob hysteria rather than purely fear of the Taliban,” the South African expat told M&G.
“It’s true that we don’t know what will be next, but I have worked in Afghanistan for the past 20 years and one gets used to uncertainty. We do the work we are paid to do and, if necessary, we leave.
“The companies we work for all have an emergency response plan and each expat has a ‘run bag’ with some necessities and personal documentation to evacuate on short notice. The United States has since deployed about 3 000 marines to safeguard the airport and I do not know of any South African or other expat who is in any danger at the moment.”
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