US, Germany advise against travel to Kabul airport amid evacuation chaos

The United States and Germany told their citizens in Afghanistan to avoid travelling to Kabul airport, citing security risks as thousands of desperate people gathered trying to flee almost a week after Taliban took control.

The Taliban's co-founder, Mullah Baradar, arrived in the Afghan capital for talks with other leaders. The group is trying to hammer out a new government after its forces swept across the country as US-led forces pulled out after two decades, with the Western-backed government and military collapsing.

Crowds have grown at the airport in the heat and dust of the day over the past week, hindering operations as the United States and other nations attempt to evacuate thousands of their diplomats and civilians as well as numerous Afghans.

Mothers, fathers and children have pushed up against concrete blast walls in the crush as they seek to get a flight out.

The Taliban have urged those without travel documents to go home. At least 12 people have been killed in and around the single-runway airfield since last Sunday, when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, NATO and Taliban officials said.

"Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so," a US Embassy advisory said.

The German Embassy warned its citizens in an email that Taliban forces were conducting increasingly strict controls in its immediate vicinity.

Army Major General William Taylor, with the US military's Joint Staff, told a Pentagon briefing that 5,800 US troops remain at the airport and that the facility "remains secure". Taylor said some gates into the airport were temporarily closed and reopened over the past day to facilitate a safe influx of evacuees.

A Taliban official, speaking to Reuters, said security risks could not be ruled out but that the group was "aiming to improve the situation and provide a smooth exit" for people trying to leave over the weekend.