10 Heartbreaking Pics Of Kids Trying To Flee The Taliban

Afghans desperate to escape the return of the hardline Islamic regime have flocked to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport

Heartbreaking scenes of chaos have emerged from Kabul airport, which has been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of people trying to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power last week. Afghans desperate to escape the return of the hardline Islamic regime have flocked to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport - the only way out of the country - as the Taliban warned on Monday there would be "consequences" if the United States and its allies extend their presence in Afghanistan beyond next week. Harrowing visuals from the airport show people falling to their death after clinging to the wheels of an aircraft, family members separated from each other, children crying and, in one image that gained global attention, a baby being passed over razor sharp wires to US Army personnel.  This image made available to AFP on August 20, 2021 by Human Rights Activist Omar Haidari, shows a US Marine grabbing an infant over a fence of barbed wire during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Marines were told the unidentified baby was sick and were asked to help. "So the Marine you see reaching over the wall took it to a Norwegian hospital that is at the airport. They treated the child and returned the child to the child's father," he said. US Marines were also photographed calming infants during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport.  A US Marine assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit calms an infant during an evacuation at the airport in this image released by the US Central Command Public Affairs.