Shocking reports and images have emerged from the airport in Afghanistan's capital Kabul of women throwing their babies over barbed wire and passing children to US and UK soldiers in a vain attempt to have them saved from the country.
The incidents come as thousands of people flock to the airport in an attempt to flee the country as the Taliban regime takes over after a 20-year war against the US and NATO. Many Afghans who worked with the occupying forces or the Afghan government fear that they will be killed by the Taliban.
Stuart Ramsey of Sky News said:
"A senior officer told me they had no choice because the situation was out of control, but said the blockade will live with some of his soldiers for the rest of their lives. 'It was terrible, women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking the soldiers to take them, some got caught in the wire,' he told me. 'I'm worried for my men, I'm counselling some, everyone cried last night.'"
"Women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking the soldiers to take them.”
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 18, 2021
Sky’s @ramsaysky reports from Kabul as the relief operation to move thousands of people out of Afghanistan gets more desperate https://t.co/bD0bmICk8v
People are passing infants to the front of the crowd outside of the Kabul airport in the hopes that they’ll be evacuated. pic.twitter.com/iyJdfTnhgC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 18, 2021
I News also reported:
"The report from Kabul by war correspondent Kim Sengupta is one of the most upsetting stories we have published. At Kabul airport, a Parachute Regiment officer tells Kim that Afghan mothers have been trying to throw their babies over the barbed wire to British servicemen, in the hope that their children can be saved from life under the Taliban. Some of the babies did not reach the troops."
The evacuation is due to end in a few hours and senior British politicians fear a terrorist attack on the airport is imminent.
The situation for civilians in Afghanistan is dire. In 2001, the last time Afghanistan was under Taliban rule, the U.S. State Department wrote:
"Under Taliban rule, women were given only the most rudimentary access to health care and medical care, thereby endangering the health of women, and in turn, their families. In most hospitals, male physicians could only examine a female patient if she were fully clothed, ruling out the possibility of meaningful diagnosis and treatment."
Adding:
"These Taliban regulations led to a lack of adequate medical care for women and contributed to increased suffering and higher mortality rates. Afghanistan has the world's second-worst rate of maternal death during childbirth. About 16 out of every 100 women die giving birth. Inadequate medical care for women also meant poor medical care and a high mortality rate for Afghan children. Afghanistan has one of the world's highest rates of infant and child mortality. According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 165 of every 1000 babies die before their first birthday."
[h/t: Daily Wire]
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