7 People dead during chaos at Kabul airport as Afghans flee and Taliban completes stunning takeover

Senior U.S. military officials report the chaos at the Kabul airport this morning left seven people dead, including some who fell from a departing American military transport jet.

After the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghans desperately tried to escape the capital city Monday. The video above shows the Taliban presence in the city.

The Afghans looking to escape rushed the tarmac of Kabul’s airport with some even clinging to the side of a U.S. military transport plane as it was taking off. Others tried pushing their way up a staircase and onto a different plane.

The last-minute evacuation comes after the Taliban made their way into Kabul following the fleeing of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and subsequent collapse of the western-backed government. The U.S. Embassy has been evacuated, and the American flag has been lowered. Other Western countries have also closed their missions and are flying out staff and nationals.

A Taliban official said the group would announce the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. That’s the formal name of the country under Taliban rule before they were ousted by U.S.-led forces in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The Taliban offensive appears to have stunned American officials. It tore through the country in just over a week, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last American troops by the end of the month. Just days before the insurgents entered Kabul, a U.S. military assessment predicted it could take months for the capital to fall.

“It is certainly the case that the speed with which cities fell was much greater than anyone anticipated,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan  said Monday on NBC’s “Today” show. In other interviews with U.S. television networks, Sullivan blamed the Afghan military, saying it lacked the will to fight.

President Joe Biden ordered another 1,000 troops be sent there over the weekend. That was in addition to the 3,000 troops deployed Friday to help with evacuation efforts.

Sullivan said President Biden “stands by” his decision to pull out, because he didn’t want the war in Afghanistan to enter its third decade.