PLANE TRAGEDY
A FORMER Afghan national youth team footballer reportedly died in the landing gear of a US plane while trying to flee Kabul.
Zaki Anwari’s remains were said to have been found aboard the US Air Force C-17 transport plane after the aircraft dashed to escape the advancing Taliban while carrying hundreds of refugees.
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Zaki, 19, is believed to be one of the individuals who was killed after clinging onto the plane, according to the The General Directorate of Physical Education & Sports of Afghanistan, reports Ariana News.
Pictures shocked the world as they showed hundreds of Afghans swarming around the plane desperate to get on board and escape the Taliban.
And it was reported two people fell from the aircraft and one had become trapped in the landing gear - which caused the plane to make an emergency landing in Qatar.
It has been reported that Zaki was the individual who became stuck and whose remains were recovered by the US crew.
In his final Facebook post, the promising young footballer spoke to being the master of his own destiny.
"You're the painter of your live (sic) Don't give the paint brush to anyone else," he wrote.
According to his social media, he lived in Kabul, and had been a student of Esteghlal High School, a Franco-Afghan school in Kabul.
At 16 the Inter Milan fan had been a player of the Afghan youth football team.
His friends posted mourning messages on social media, as one posted: “We are from God and we return to him.”
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Another message read: "Comrade, with whom I had the most and most unforgettable memories, his loss is a great sorrow for me and unspeakable.”
Afghanistan's assistant manager Ali Askar Lali said: "May his soul rest in peace and his memory be remembered."
Several stowaways fleeing the Taliban fell from the plane when it took off in Kabul, as shown in horrific footage.
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In a bid to flee what they fear will be a return to the Taliban's brutal rule based on an extreme interpretation of Islam, people raced to the airport in a frantic bid to board flights on Monday.
In chaotic scenes echoing the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war, petrified men, women and children were filmed trying to get on aircraft after the feared Taliban stormed the capital.
With civilian flights suspended, many turned US Air Force aircraft to try get out of the country while they were operating.
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Harrowing video shows stowaways falling several hundred feet to their deaths after being thrown from a C-17 transport aircraft taking off from Kabul airport.
Other images taken from the ground show stowaways clinging to the plane as it took off.
At one stage, US Apache helicopter gunships were brought in to clear a path for the transport planes, swooping low to disperse people massed on the runway and firing warning shots.
One witness said he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle at the airport.
American troops guarding the airport were forced to fire shots into the air but it's unclear if those who died were hit by bullets or crushed in the stampede.
Dozens were later reportedly treated for gunshot wounds at a hospital in Kabul.
CRUSHED TO DEATH
It appears one individual - reported to be Zaki - became trapped in a panel that is part of the landing gear mechanism and which closes when the wheels are retracted.
The discovery was made when the crew struggled to close the landing gear and then made an emergency landing in Qatar.
Horror footage showed human remains being buffeted by the wind as they hung from the aircraft's fuselage near the landing gear.
And in another video, a group of men can be seen riding on top of the wheel bay as the plane taxis along the runway.
Across Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross said thousands had been wounded in recent fighting as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on Sunday.
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Timeline of Taliban victory
THE Taliban surged to victory quicker than anyone expected...
April 14 - President Joe Biden announces US troops will withdraw from Afghanistan starting on May 1 and ending on September 11.
May 4 - Taliban fighters launch a major offensive on Afghan forces in southern Helmand and at least six other provinces.
June 7 - Government officials say fighting is raging in 26 of the country's 34 provinces.
June 22 - Taliban fighters launch a series of attacks in the north of the country, far from their traditional strongholds in the south.
July 2 - American troops quietly pull out of their main military base in Afghanistan - Bagram Air Base, ending US involvement in the war.
July 21 - Taliban insurgents control about a half of the country's districts, according to the senior US general, underlining the scale and speed of their advance.
July 25 - US vows to continue to support Afghan troops "in the coming weeks" with intensified airstrikes to help them counter Taliban attacks.
July 26 - The United Nations says nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in May and June in escalating violence, the highest number for those months since records started in 2009.
August 6 - Zaranj in the south of the country becomes the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in years and many more the ensuing days, including the prized city of Kunduz in the north.
August 13 - Four more provincial capitals fall in a day, including Kandahar, the country's second city and spiritual home of the Taliban. In the west, another key city, Herat, is overrun.
August 14 - The Taliban take the major northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and, with little resistance, Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province just 40 miles south of Kabul.
August 15 - The Taliban take the key eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, effectively surrounding Kabul.
August 16 - The world watches on as the West desperately tries to evacuate its citizens as the Taliban seize power in Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden has been widely condemned for what is being seen as the US's biggest foreign policy failure since the Vietnam War.
American forces hastily retreated from the country which they had spent 20 years propping up after the invasion following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
However, their withdrawal saw the Afghan armed forces collapse and totally fold in a matter of weeks to the advancing Taliban.
It is feared the Taliban are going to bring back the brutality which gave them infamy when they ruled Afghanistan in the 90s - including brutal torture and executions.
Taliban bosses have insisted they will be more moderate and have promised an amnesty to anyone who supported the West.
However, disturbing reports have already emerged of "kill lists" being drawn up with names of Western allies.
And there are claims that girls as young as 12 are being targeted for forced marriages - with pictures already showing photos of women on shop fronts are being painted over.
Desperate refugees continue to crowd round Kabul airport as they beg the remaining British and American soldiers to let them go with them - including throwing babies over barbed wire.
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