Desperate Afghans left out in the cold near airport after false rumours of flights leaving for Turkey

Rumours of Turkey wanting volunteers to help in earthquake relief reveal desperation to leave Afghanistan

Hundreds of families desperate to leave Afghanistan thronged at the Kabul airport after false rumours circulated that Turkey was looking for volunteers from the impoverished country to aid in earthquake relief measures.

Unfounded rumours had spread that the Turkish embassy was choosing volunteeers that it would fly to Turkey for relief operations.

Social media videos captured crowds of people on Wednesday braving cold temperatures in packed vehicles with the hope that they would finally be successful in leaving their home country.

The scenes around the airport were a grim reminder of two years ago when the US evacuated its troops from Afghanistan and people had rushed to the same airport to escape persecution from the Taliban.

Some people were seen running to enter the airport, while vehicles contributed to massive traffic outside its premises.

“Crowds of people converged on Kabul Airport evening after hearing rumours that the Turkish embassy was planning to fly out Afghan citizens to help with relief work following the deadly earthquakes in Turkey,” said local journalist Saeedullah Safi.

Citing eyewitnesses, Mr Safi said large groups of people made it into the airport and onto the tarmac, with the hope that flights would take them out of the country.

“I heard that Turkey is taking out people so I thought I can go and help people in need,” said 26-year-old Kabul resident Abdul Ghafar who was among hundreds who rushed to the airport on Wednesday.

“This can be an opportunity for me to find a way out of the country,” he added.

He was later informed by Taliban forces that there were no flights leaving for Turkey. Mr Ghafar had waited in the cold for three hours, along with hundreds of other Afghans, near the airport.

Kabul police chief Khalid Zadran said no such flights existed.

The shocking situation at the airport revealed how Afghans are still desperate to escape the clutches of the Taliban, nearly 18 months since the militant group filled the power vaccuum left by the US.

In 2021, Afghans had slept on the airport tarmac and even clung onto the wheels of aircraft with the hope that they could be transported out of the country.

Several cited hardline Islamist rule and the increasingly worsening situation of the rights of women and girls.

The Taliban has reversed the promises of having a more liberal rule this time and curbed the civil liberties of gender minorities amid a worsening economic crisis that has led to several citizens struggling to survive.