Taliban guard airport as most NATO troops leave Afghanistan

By SAYED ZIARMAL HASHEMI, RAHIM FAIEZ, JILL LAWLESS and ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban forces have sealed off Kabul’s airport to most Afghans as NATO nations wrap up evacuation flights out of Afghanistan. Western leaders acknowledged their withdrawal would mean leaving behind some of their citizens and many Afghans who helped them over the years. And they vowed to try to work with the Taliban to allow local allies to leave even after President Joe Biden’s Tuesday’s deadline to withdraw from the country. Taliban forces beefed up perimeter checkpoints around the airport, and the U.S. issued a new warning early Sunday that Americans should avoid the airport entirely because an imminent attack was possible. The warning came days after an attack by the Islamic State group that killed more than 180 people.