'Australian citizen' beaten by Taliban while trying to reach evacuation flight
25 August 2021, 14:20 | Updated: 25 August 2021, 14:49
The Taliban is defying Joe Biden's demand to let evacuation flights continue unimpeded with just hours left to get civilians out of the country.
In video footage that has gone viral, a man claiming to be an Australian citizen was left bloodied and battered by members of the militant group.
A clip widely circulated online shows the man at what appears to be a Taliban checkpoint with blood running down his face. He says in English: "They hit me... I am an Australian citizen."
The video emerged amid a worsening situation at Kabul airport for desperate Afghans after the Taliban warned them not to travel there for flights out.
Countries are facing a race against time to get their citizens and Afghan refugees to safety.
But as the new video appears to show, the Taliban have started to clamp down on who are trying to flee the country.
In the clip, what appears to be the sound of a firearm being cocked and fired can be heard in the background before the video cuts out as a woman screams.
Read more: Afghanistan: UK evacuation flights from Kabul to end in 'next 24 to 36 hours'
Read more: PM: Taliban must ensure safety of people who want to leave Afghanistan after August 31
An Aus citizen who was on his way to Kabul Airport was beaten by Talibani
— Shivank Mishra (@shivank_8mishra) August 25, 2021
The man has recorded the video in which he was wounded and Talibani Fighters are seen beating him
Before video abruptly ends, A Fireshot can also be heard... @karimi_shafi pic.twitter.com/wucTbxAoX4
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said foreigners can still travel to Kabul airport but Afghans should go home – and he said they will not suffer revenge attacks.
"The road, which goes to the airport, is blocked. Afghans cannot take that road to go to the airport, but foreign nationals are allowed to take that road to the airport," CNN quoted him as saying.
"We are not allowing the evacuation of Afghans anymore and we are not happy with it either.
People in important jobs, such as doctors or academics, should "not leave this country, they should work in their own specialist areas" and they "should not go to other countries, to those Western countries".
Besides fearing a brain drain as skilled workers try to flee, the Taliban has said it is concerned about money and artefacts being taken out of the country.
The Taliban have reassured the UK they can get Brits out
Most banks are closed and few cashpoints dispense notes.
The group said taking cash and artefacts out of Afghanistan will be an offence with potential legal consequences.
That comes despite the group – which insists it has changed – having taken a very different view on cultural history. It famously dynamited the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, a World Heritage Site as designated by UNESCO, when it ruled Afghanistan before.
More than 80,000 people have been flown to safety as they fear the new regime will severely restrict women's rights and start reprisals against those who helped the last government and foreign forces.
Time is against those nations after the US refused to extend its August 31 deadline for getting its forces, which are instrumental to the effort, out of Kabul's airport.
The White House said 19,000 people have been flown out within a 24-hour period, taking the number of people taken away since August 14 to more than 82,000.
It has been reported that the British mission could wind up with 24 and 36 hours, to ensure it has been concluded before the US drawdown.
