Families hoping for a miracle crowded between the barbed-wire that surrounds an unofficial no man s land separating the Taliban from US troops. Roads to the airport were choked with traffic.
Apprehending that the Taliban militia may prevent the Afghan public representatives from taking the IAF flight, the entire plan was kept secret till the flight took off from Afghanistan, sources said.
"For most of us, there was no time to think or to go pack. So we took the bus. As we passed the city, we could hear explosions. We didn t know whether we would make it to the airport alive. Some Taliban men opened fire on our bus. Luckily, the vehicle was bulletproof."
But tens of thousands of other Afghan grunts, commandos and spies who fought to the end, despite the talk in Washington that the Afghan forces simply gave up, have been left behind. They are now on the run, hiding and hunted by the Taliban.