Photos Capture The Disintegration Of Kabul As Thousands Try To Flee

People were seen clinging to the outside of airplanes and scaling barbed-wire walls in an attempt to flee Afghanistan as Taliban militants took over.

Above image: Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport on Aug. 16.  Thousands of people flooded Kabul’s airport on Monday after Taliban insurgents overtook the capital, igniting fears of a return to Islamic rule of law and persecution of those who worked for Afghanistan’s former government or its security services. Stunning photos taken at the Hamid Karzai International Airport captured Afghans’ panic, as they hauled their family members over barbed-wired walls and desperately clung to departing airplanes, some ultimately falling to their deaths. Similar evacuation attempts were being made on the ground at the country’s border, which is now controlled by the Taliban.