The United States will focus on securing the Kabul airport and additional US forces will flow into the airport on Monday and Tuesday, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said, as people tried to flee a day after Taliban insurgents seized the Afghan capital. The United States has temporarily halted all evacuation flights from Kabul to clear people who had converged on the airfield, a US defense official said, but did not say how long the pause would last. The defense official said the United States aims get tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans who worked for the US government out of Afghanistan and was looking at temporarily housing them at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Bliss in Texas. Five people were killed in chaos at Kabul airport on Monday, witnesses said, as people tried to flee after Taliban insurgents seized Kabul and declared the war against foreign and local forces over. The United States was focused intensively on securing the Kabul airport on Monday, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said. The goal was to continue civilian evacuation flights for American citizens in Afghanistan, Afghans who worked alongside the US over the past 20 years and for other particularly vulnerable Afghans, he said. Additional US forces will be flowing into the airport on Monday and Tuesday to provide security, Finer added.<br/>
general
Thousands of desperate Afghans trying to escape the Taliban takeover swarmed Kabul’s main international airport on Monday, rushing the boarding gates, mobbing the runways, clambering atop the wings of jets and even trying to cling to the fuselage of departing American military planes. At least half a dozen Afghans were killed in the chaos, some falling from the skies as they lost their grasp, and at least two shot by American soldiers trying to contain the surging crowds. The images evoked America’s frantic departure from Vietnam, encapsulating Afghanistan’s breathtaking collapse in the wake of American abandonment. As American troops sought to manage the exodus, seizing air traffic control to prioritize military flights evacuating Western citizens and flying Apache helicopters low over the crowds to clear the runway, Taliban fighters capped a swift and devastating lunge for power, posing for an iconic photo behind the ornate presidential desk in the presidential palace hours after President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country. In one extraordinary scene filmed by Afghan media, hundreds of people ran alongside an American military C-17 cargo plane and some tried to climb into the wheel wells or cling to the sides of the plane as it gathered speed, a striking symbol of America’s military might flying away even as Afghans hung on against all hope.<br/>
Major international airlines are scrambling to reroute flights away from Afghan airspace as the country falls to the Taliban, disrupting passenger services to India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. On Monday, United, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Flydubai all announced changes to flights to or over Afghanistan, saying that they would monitor the situation as chaotic scenes unfolded at the main airport in Kabul, the nation's capital. "Due to the dynamic nature of the situation, we have begun routing affected flights around Afghanistan airspace," a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement early Monday morning local time, adding that it would continue to work closely with authorities to "determine how we continue service to markets impacted." The changes affect United flights to India. Virgin Atlantic also said that it would reroute its upcoming services to India and Pakistan after "the latest situation reports in Afghanistan." Starting Monday, the carrier's flights to the cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Mumbai and New Delhi, which usually fly over Afghanistan, will be diverted to avoid the country's airspace. "The health, safety and security of our customers and people always comes first," a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said. Lufthansa, the German airline, also said that it was "rerouting flights to avoid Afghan airspace until further notice." "As a result, the flight time to India and other destinations will be extended by up to one hour," a spokesperson said.<br/>
Turkey has dropped plans to take over Kabul airport after NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan but is ready to provide support if the Taliban request it, two Turkish sources said on Monday amid turmoil following the militant group's victory in Afghanistan. Turkey, which has 600 troops in Afghanistan, had offered to keep them in Kabul to guard and operate the airport after other NATO members pulled out, and was discussing details with Washington and the government of President Ashraf Ghani. The plans were thrown into disarray over the past two days after Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the Taliban swept in to Kabul and thousands of Afghans, also hoping to escape, thronged the airport on Monday. The Taliban had also warned Turkey against keeping soldiers in Afghanistan to run the airport - warnings which Ankara had dismissed before the Islamist militants surged towards the capital. "At the point reached, there is total chaos at Kabul airport. Order has been completely disrupted," said one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. "At this stage, the process of Turkish soldiers taking up control of the airport has automatically been dropped," the person added. "However, in the event that the Taliban asks for technical support, Turkey can provide security and technical support at the airport."<br/>
The US CDC warned on Monday against travel to Turkey because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in those nations but eased its advisory for India. The CDC added Turkey to its "Level 4: Very High" COVID-19 level, while lowering India to "Level 2: Moderate." President Joe Biden on April 30 imposed new travel restrictions on India in light of COVID-19, barring most non-US citizens from entering the United States who had been in India within the previous 14 days.<br/>
Sydney Airport Holdings Monday rejected an improved A$22.80b ($16.81b) bid from a group of infrastructure investors, saying that it undervalued the airport operator, but that it was open to a higher offer. The new offer valued Sydney Airport at A$8.45 per share, 2.4% higher than the previous offer of A$8.25 a share, and a more than 9% premium to the stock's Friday close. Shares were steady in afternoon trading on Monday, with the increased price below market expectations of closer to A$9 a share. A successful takeover would be among the largest buyouts ever of an Australian firm and underline a year of stellar deal activity, that has already seen a mega $29b buyout of Afterpay by Square. But it would require Sydney Airport to allow due diligence as well as receiving approvals from shareholders, the competition regulator and the Foreign Investment Review Board, a process that typically takes months. The unanimous board rejection comes a month after the airport operator turned down an initial bid from the Sydney Aviation Alliance (SAA), a consortium of Australian investors IFM Investors and QSuper and US-based Global Infrastructure Partners. Record-low interest rates have prompted pension funds and their investment managers to chase higher yields.<br/>