Chaotic scenes at the airport included a group clinging to a U.S. military transport plane as it taxied on the single runway. A U.S. official told Reuters two gunmen had been killed by U.S. forces after they appeared to fire into the crowd. He blamed the Taliban's takeover on Afghan political leaders who fled the country and the Afghan army's unwillingness to fight. "Afghanistan is lost ... every terrorist around the world is cheering," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in his home state of Kentucky. 1/7 A man pulls a girl to get inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 16, 2021.
