‘Game over’: Westerners rush to leave Kabul, rescue Afghans

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press

The chop of U.S. military helicopters whisking American diplomats to Kabul’s airport has punctuated a frantic rush by thousands of other foreigners and Afghans to flee to safety as well, as a stunningly swift Taliban takeover reached Afghanistan’s capital. U.S. reports of gunfire at the airport Sunday evening threatened to shut down one of the last avenues of escape in an ever-more chaotic and compressed evacuation. NATO allies that had already pulled out their forces were rushing troops back in to airlift their citizens, while the Pentagon was sending in fresh reinforcements. Some complained the U.S. was failing to move fast enough to bring its Afghan allies to safety.