VIDEO – Afghanistan: in the heart of Kabul in the hands of the Taliban, the story of our special envoys – LCI

It has been eight days since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan and reign supreme over Kabul. As thousands of people hope to leave the country, life has stood still for many residents of the Afghan capital. Women must wear the burqa again, beauty salons are closed, photos of women in the streets masked.

Schools and universities have closed their doors until further notice, leaving teachers and students in awe. “This situation is really ambiguous, we don’t know what will become of us. I’m afraid, all the school staff are afraid. We say to ourselves that they are going to come and arrest us because we were working for it. ‘ex-government’, confides Noverra Sodekh, director of a public school in Kabul to our journalists.

For many Kabulians, the city’s airport is seen as the last chance, the only way out of the country. Hundreds of people are crowding into buses, hoping to reach this western-controlled area and leave the country.

With wife and children, Hussein is among those who attempt to take a military plane. “I want to go to the United States because there is fighting here (…) there are too many problems and the Taliban are coming “, he told our reporters. The omnipresent Taliban are trying to prevent Afghans from reaching the airport. Patrolling the streets, they shoot in the air to intimidate the crowd.

“All the residents we met today in Kabul have all told us that they are deeply worried about the future. What measures will the Taliban announce? Are there any new restrictions? What are they going to be? that it will be authorized, prohibited for women? Will there be a civil war? The Taliban are trying to reassure the population, who do not trust them “, summarizes our special correspondent Liseron Boudoul.

In this tense climate, evacuations continue. This Tuesday, 2,000 people will have been evacuated to France, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Monday, alongside Minister of Arms Florence Parly, from Al-Dhafra air base 104, 30 kilometers away. Abu Dhabi, where the French Air Force has set up an airlift to Kabul.

Time is running out: the United States has set August 31 as the deadline for the final withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan.