Afghan Footballer Died After Falling From US Plane Leaving Kabul

DOHA, Qatar — Zaki Anwari, a former Afghan national youth team footballer, died after falling from a US aircraft while escaping Kabul.

After falling from a US military aircraft, the 19-year-old footballer died on Aug.16, announced a Facebook page about the Afghan national football team.

The news was confirmed by the General Directorate of Physical Education & Sports in Afghanistan.

The teenager had been called up to the national youth team as a 16-year-old. People have been paying tributes to the young footballer on social media since the news of his death.

A video had appeared on the internet on Aug. 16 showing that at least three Afghans fell from the C-17 Globemaster soon after the plane took off from Kabul airport as they had clung to the underbelly of the aircraft in an attempt to flee the country. US officials are doing due diligence to understand better how events unfolded.

In the video, it appeared that desperate Afghans were clinging on to either the undercarriage of the C-17 or the landing gear of the transport plane when they got flung out due to the huge G-force exerted during take-off.

At least ten people were killed. Several were injured at Kabul airport on Aug. 16 and Aug. 17 while they tried to catch flights to flee the country soon after the Taliban captured Kabul.

As the terror group seized Kabul on Aug. 15, thousands of people rushed to the airport to flee the country. Officials believe that people were misinformed about the availability of flights at the airport.

Kabul airport has become a picture of chaos and desperation after the fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban.

As per the local media reports, in a heartbreaking incident, desperate Afghan women were seen throwing their babies over the razor wire of the Kabul airport compound.

A senior British officer said to the local media that they could hear the sound of shouting, the noise of desperation as thousands of people are flooding towards Kabul airport that will, for some, be the gateway to freedom – and for many others, the end of a dream of escaping the Taliban.

“It was terrible. Women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking British soldiers to take them. Some got caught in the wire,” he said.

“I’m worried for my men. I’m counseling some. Everyone cried last night,” said the officer.

The British Army has guaranteed support to those who served in the army.

“To those in the @BritishArmy community, serving, veterans, Regular, Reserve, civilian colleagues, and our families, the current situation in Afghanistan may be evoking difficult memories. There is lots of support available— you are not alone,” tweeted the British Army.

The report narrated that day and night, families— often with children— have risked their lives, ducking past gunfire at the gates of the civilian side of the airport, passing aggressive Taliban, who occasionally beat and harass them.

On either side of a narrow road, exhausted British soldiers lie in the shade inside the compound’s walls at Kabul airport, waiting for their turn to head back outside into the chaos once again.

As every day passes, the relief operation gets more urgent and desperate. The British military tries to move thousands of people out of Afghanistan in just days.

“Airborne troops are on the ground to oversee a safe return from Afghanistan for British people and Afghans who have worked alongside them and been allowed to settle in the UK,” tweeted 16 Air Assault Brigade, British Army’s UK Global Response Force.

It’s a humanitarian mission in what feels like a war zone. The Taliban are just one meter away from the British soldiers.

The Taliban controls the crowds of people up the road trying to reach the British position near Kabul airport.

Sometimes they fire into the air, making people stop. They are a menacing presence.

The Taliban took control over Afghanistan on Sunday after entering the presidential palace in Kabul.

The Taliban leaders discuss future government plans in Doha. They are in touch with the international community and intra-Afghan parties to make government in Afghanistan.

The world is closely watching the unfolding situation in Afghanistan as the countries have scrambled to evacuate their citizens from Afghanistan to secure their people.

(With inputs from ANI)

Edited by Saptak Datta and Ritaban Misra