A Taliban official stated on Wednesday that leaders of the Afghan movement will present themselves to the world, contrasting with the situation 20 years ago when Taliban leaders largely lived in secrecy. The senior official, who requested anonymity for Reuters, said: "Gradually, the world will see all our leaders, and there will be no hiding or secrecy."
He added that members of the movement have been ordered not to celebrate their swift takeover of the country, which brought them to the capital, Kabul, on Sunday, indicating that civilians should surrender their weapons and ammunition.
After images of Kabul falling into the hands of the Taliban spread, terrifying new pictures emerged showing thousands of people in panic trying to flee the country. One video displayed several individuals clinging to the wheels of a plane as it took off, with at least two people falling from the giant aircraft.
Fire-like, the image of hundreds of Afghans lying on the floor of what seems to be a military plane circulated amid attempts to escape Kabul after the Taliban's takeover. This image, which captured that fateful day, was credited to the military-focused site "Defense One" and was shared by American and British media outlets like ABC News and the Independent newspaper.
According to the site that cited American military officials, the image is indeed real, depicting the escape of about 640 Afghans from Kabul to Doha aboard a U.S. military cargo plane, type C-17. An American military official who requested not to be named confirmed that the plane was not intending to carry such a number but that "the terrified Afghans pushed themselves to the open door of the aircraft."
