Watch: Harrowing video shows Kabul airport overwhelmed as Afghans desperately try to escape Taliban rule

The United States' 20-year war in Afghanistan reached a tragic turning point during the August 14-15 weekend when the extremist far-right Taliban seized control of the country, including the capital city Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. And the Hamid Karzai International Airport became the scene of chaos on Monday morning, August 16 as Afghans, desperate to avoid life under the Taliban, tried to escape from Afghanistan.

CNN reported, "Gunfire rang out earlier as crowds raced to catch a flight at the airport…. Video shows masses of people scrambling up a gangplank to get on board a plane. The U.S. Embassy is even warning Americans not to go to the airport, and that's despite all Embassy staff being evacuated there…. Meanwhile, the Taliban (is) setting up shop in Kabul."

NBC News reported that "desperate Afghans," at the Kabul Airport tried to "force themselves onto a plane" as "panic" spread in Afghanistan's capital city.

The Guardian's Ben Doherty, on August 16, reported, "With the Taliban installed in the presidential palace and the elected president having fled the country, access to Hamid Karzai Airport, five kilometers from the center of the capital, was possible only through Taliban checkpoints."

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According to Doherty, "On Monday morning, there were reports U.S. troops had fired into the air to disperse surging crowds. There were also unconfirmed reports that three people had died after desperately clinging onto the undercarriage of a departing U.S. Air Force C17 plane. As the aircraft took off, they fell to their deaths on rooftops near the airport. Video showed bodies on the ground. The circumstances of their deaths were unclear."