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Taliban fighters on a Humvee in Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021.

World

Photos: Chaos in Kabul

As Taliban fighters captured Kabul, sealing their grip on Afghanistan in just under a week, thousands of civilians headed to the airport to try to escape the onset of a brutal regime.

/ 22 PHOTOS
A man pulls a girl to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16, 2021.

A man pulls a girl to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Monday, Aug. 16, 2021.

Desperate Afghans surrounded passenger jets and attempted to force themselves onto a plane in Kabul's airport overnight as panic spread after the Taliban took control of the capital 20 years after being toppled by U.S. forces.

— Reuters
Taliban fighters stand guard in a vehicle along the roadside in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Taliban fighters stand guard in a vehicle along the roadside in Kabul on Monday.

— AFP - Getty Images
A U.S. soldier points his gun towards an Afghan passenger at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

A U.S. soldier points his gun towards an Afghan passenger at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the airport on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
An Afghan child walks near military uniforms as he waits to leave the Kabul airport on Aug. 16, 2021.

An Afghan child walks near military uniforms as he waits to leave the Kabul airport on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan families wait by the luggage conveyor belt inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Afghan families wait by the luggage conveyor belt inside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Stranded Afghan nationals arrive to return back to Afghanistan at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman on Aug. 16, 2021.

Stranded Afghan nationals return to Afghanistan at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman on Monday.

— AFP - Getty Images
Taliban fighters on a Humvee in Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021.

Taliban fighters on a Humvee in Kabul on Sunday.

— Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times / via Redux Pictures
Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021.

Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul on Sunday.

— Rahmat Gul / AP
Women with their children try to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Women with their children try to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday.

— Reuters
Taliban fighters stand guard in the main gate leading to Afghan presidential palace in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Taliban fighters stand guard in the main gate leading to Afghan presidential palace in Kabul on Monday.

— Rahmat Gul / AP
U.S. soldiers stand guard as Afghan people wait at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

U.S. soldiers stand guard as Afghan people wait at the airport in Kabul on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021.

Taliban fighters take control of the presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in Kabul on Sunday.

— Zabi Karimi / AP
Image: A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III safely evacuated some 640 Afghans from Kabul late Sunday.

Hundreds of Afghans packed onto an American military cargo jet on Sunday.

The passengers crowded together for a journey from Kabul to Qatar — a journey that usually takes around three hours.

— Defense One
Afghan passengers sit inside a plane as they wait to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Passengers sit inside a plane as they wait to leave the airport in Kabul on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Thousands of Afghans rush to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Thousands of Afghans rush to the airport in Kabul as they try to flee on Monday.

— Haroon Sabawoon / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A volunteer carries an injured man at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

A volunteer carries an injured man at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan wait to leave the airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Afghans wait to leave the airport in Kabul on Monday.

Many Afghanis are concerned that the militants will now reimpose their brutal and austere rule over Afghanistan, that saw women's rights all but eliminated and minorities persecuted.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images file
Taliban fighters stand guard in front of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Taliban fighters stand guard in front of the airport in Kabul on Monday.

— Rahmat Gul / AP
British Forces from 16 Air Assault Brigade arrive in Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021.

British Forces from 16 Air Assault Brigade arrive in Kabul on Sunday.

— Ben Shread / RAF/U.K. Ministry of Defense via Reuters
Afghan people sit along the tarmac as they wait to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Afghan people sit along the tarmac as they wait to leave on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan people climb up on a plane and sit by the door as they wait at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021.

Afghan people climb up on a plane and sit by the door as they wait at the airport in Kabul on Monday.

— Wakil Kohsar / AFP - Getty Images
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