Photos: Evacuees make desperate escape from Afghanistan

Evacuees from Afghanistan inside an Airbus A400 transport aircraft of the German Air Force Luftwaffe in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Thousands were still trying to flee the country in a chaotic exodus a week after the Taliban takeover.

A U.S. Marine comforts an infant while waiting for the mother during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The Taliban moved to confront the first stirrings of armed resistance since capturing nearly all of Afghanistan in a matter of days earlier this month. Anti-Taliban fighters claimed to have seized three mountainous districts, and a prominent militia commander in the only province not yet under Taliban control pledged to fight back if attacked. Above, people evacuated from Afghanistan walk upon arrival at the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad, India.

A baby being lifted across a wall at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan by US soldiers. The image grabbed from footage showed the infant being pushed up to the soldiers by people in the crowd gathered outside the airport, amid the chaos of those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country.

Kabul’s airport, now one of the only routes out of the country, has seen days of chaos since the Taliban entered the capital on Aug. 15. Thousands poured onto the tarmac last week, and several Afghans plunged to their deaths after clinging to a U.S. military cargo plane as it took off, some of the seven killed on Aug. 16. Above, people who were evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, carry trays of food as they have their first meal at the camp in Doberlug-Kirchhain, Germany.

Afghanistan Special Forces shoot to disperse a crowd, outside Kabul Airport.

The Taliban have pledged amnesty to those who worked with the U.S., NATO and the toppled Afghan government, but many Afghans still fear revenge attacks.

U.S. Marines and Norwegian coalition forces assist with security at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint ensuring evacuees are processed safely during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul.

A coalition service member from Denmark holds up a Danish flag to identify families during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul.

“The situation at Kabul airport remains extremely challenging and unpredictable,” a NATO official said on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations. The official was not able to confirm a precise number of casualties.

President Joe Biden said the U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others from the Kabul airport picked up speed this weekend. Biden told reporters at the White House that 11,000 people had been airlifted from Kabul in a 36-hour period this weekend, although he did not provide details.

A US Airman with the Joint Task Force-Crisis Response (L) high fives child (R) after helping reunite their family at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

A child reacts as people who were stranded in crisis-hit Afghanistan arrive by a special repatriation flight of IAF at the Hindan Air Force Station, in Ghaziabad.

Nilofar Bayat, captain of the Afghan wheelchair basketball team, arrives next to her compatriots who were evacuated from Kabul at Torrejon Air Base in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, Spain.

Earlier, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that 3,900 people had been flown from Kabul on U.S. military flights in the past 24 hours, up from 1,600 the previous day. That’s in addition to about 3,900 people airlifted on non-U.S. military flights over the past 24 hours. It remains far below the 5,000 to 9,000 that the military says it has the capacity to airlift daily.

A U.S. Marine and a child spray water at each other during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul.