Taliban stop planes of evacuees from leaving but unclear why

At least four planes chartered to evacuate several hundred people seeking to escape the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan have been unable to leave the country for days officials said Sunday with conflicting accounts emerging about why the flights werent able to take off as pressure ramps up on the United States to help those left behind to fleeAn Afghan official at the airport in the northern city of MazareSharif said that the wouldbe passengers were Afghans many of whom did not have passports or visas and thus were unable to leave the country He said they had left the airport while the situation was sorted outThe top Republican on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee however said that the group included Americans and they were sitting on the planes but the Taliban were not letting them take off effectively ldquoholding them hostage He did not say where that information came from It was not immediately possible to reconcile the accountsThe final days of Americas 20year war in Afghanistan were marked by a harrowing airlift at Kabuls airport to evacuate tens of thousands of people mdash Americans and their allies mdash who feared what the future would hold given the Talibans history of repression particularly of women When the last troops pulled out on Aug 30 though many were left behindThe US promised to continue working with the new Taliban rulers to get those who want to leave out and the militants pledged to allow anyone with the proper legal documents to leave But Rep Michael McCaul of Texas told ldquoFox News Sunday that American citizens and Afghan interpreters were being kept on six planesThe Taliban will not let them leave the airportrdquo he said adding that hes worried ldquotheyre going to demand more and more whether it be cash or legitimacy as the government of Afghanistanrdquo He did not offer more detailsThe Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject said it was four planes and their intended passengers were staying at hotels while authorities worked out whether they might be able to leave the country The sticking point he indicated is that many did not have the right travel papersAlso ReadTaliban resume some flights press assault on final holdoutResidents of MazareSharif also said the passengers were no longer at the airport At least 10 families were seen at a local hotel waiting they said for a decision on their fates None of them had passports or visas but said they had worked for companies allied with the US or German military Others were seen at restaurantsThe small airport at MazareSharif only recently began to handle international flights and so far only to Turkey The planes in question were bound for Doha Qatar the Afghan official saidIt was not clear who chartered them or why they were waiting in the northern city The massive airlift happened at Kabuls international airport which initially closed after the US withdrawal but where domestic flights have now resumedSearing images of that chaotic evacuation mdash including people clinging to an airplane as it took off mdash came to define the final days of Americas longest war just weeks after Taliban fighters retook the country in a lightning offensiveSince their takeover the Taliban have sought to recast themselves as different from their 1990s incarnation when they last ruled the country and imposed repressive restrictions across society Women and girls were denied work and education men were forced to grow beards and television and music were bannedNow the world is waiting to see the face of the new government and many Afghans remain skeptical In the weeks since they took power signals have been mixed Government employees including women have been asked to return to work but some women were later ordered home by lowerranking Taliban Universities and schools have been ordered open but fear has kept both students and teachers awayWomen have demonstrated peacefully some even having conversations about their rights with Taliban leaders But some have been dispersed by Taliban special forces firing in the airSome signs of normalcy have also begun to return Kabuls streets are again clogged with traffic as Taliban fighters patrol in pickup trucks and police vehicles mdash brandishing their automatic weapons and flying the Talibans white flag Schools have opened and moneychangers work the street cornersAmong the promises the Taliban have made is that once the countrys airports are up and running Afghans with passports and visas would be allowed to travel More than 100 countries issued a statement saying they would be watching to see that the new rulers held to their commitmentTechnical teams from Qatar and Turkey arrived in recent days and are working to get the civilian airport operationalOn Saturday staterun Ariana Airlines made its first domestic flights which continued on Sunday The airport is without radar facilities so flights are restricted to daylight hours to allow for visual landing said official Shershah StorSeveral countries have also been bringing in humanitarian supplies The Gulf state of Qatar where the Taliban maintained a political office since 2013 is making daily flights into Kabul delivering humanitarian aid for the warweary nation Bahrain also announced humanitarian assistance deliveriesMeanwhile the Taliban stepped up an assault on the last remaining pocket of resistance being led by fighters opposed to their ruleThe antiTaliban fighters in Panjshir province north of the Afghan capital are being led by former vice president Amrullah Saleh who has appealed for humanitarian aid to help the thousands of people displaced by the fightingA senior Taliban spokesman tweeted Sunday that Taliban troops had overrun Rokha district one of largest of eight districts in Panjshir Several Taliban delegations have attempted negotiations with the holdouts there but talks have failed to gain tractionFahim Dashti the spokesman for the group that is fighting the Taliban was killed in a battle on Sunday according to the groups Twitter account Dashti was the voice of the group and a prominent media personality during previous governmentsHe was also the nephew of Abdullah Abdullah a senior official of the former government who is involved in negotiations with the Taliban on the future of AfghanistanSaleh fled to Panjshir after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani quit Afghanistan as the Taliban marched on the capital The fighters lightning blitz across the country took less than a week to overrun some 300000 government troops most of whom surrendered or fledThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever