US forces fire crowd control measures at Kabul airport

US troops sent to assist with the evacuation of personnel in Afghanistan fired shots at Hamid Karzai International Airport. No one was injured.

 People climb a barbed wire wall to enter the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021, in this still image taken from a video. (photo credit: REUTERS TV/via REUTERS)
People climb a barbed wire wall to enter the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021, in this still image taken from a video.
(photo credit: REUTERS TV/via REUTERS)

US troops guarding the evacuation effort at Kabul airport fired some shots overnight as crowd-control efforts, but there were no indications of casualties or injuries, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Kirby told a news briefing that no shots were fired by American troops at Afghans or anybody else. Kirby said the number of US troops at Kabul's international airport reached about 4,500 on Wednesday and several hundred more were expected over the next 24 hours.

 A man pulls a girl to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021 (credit: REUTERS)
A man pulls a girl to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021 (credit: REUTERS)

A Taliban official separately said Taliban commanders and soldiers were firing into the air on Wednesday to disperse crowds at the Kabul airport.

"We have no intention to injure anyone," the official told Reuters.

Chaos has continued outside the airport, the official said, blaming Western forces for a "chaotic evacuation plan" from Afghanistan.

Kirby said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley will brief the media on developments in Afghanistan at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT).