Heartbreaking footage has been released of citizens in Afghanistan clinging on to a plane in a desperate attempt to flee the country after the United States military evacuated the country, Newsweek reports.

On Monday, numerous videos were widely shared on social media, showing hundreds of people running alongside a U.S. military jet as it prepared to depart Kabul airport.

On Saturday, the Taliban captured a heavily defended city in northern Afghanistan and was were en route to the capital city of Kabul, less than a month before the U.S troops were set to withdraw from the region, according to the Associated Press. 

In one video that was uploaded by the Afghan Asvaka News Agency, two unidentifiable objects are seen falling from the body of a plane as it takes flight.

"The video shows a flight from Kabul airport where two people are thrown from a plane into the people's homes," the agency said in a tweet, describing the events.

Exclusive – The video shows a flight from #Kabul airport where two people are thrown from a plane into the the people's homes.#Afghanistan #Taliban pic.twitter.com/GlSgjNApJj

— Aśvaka – آسواکا News Agency (@AsvakaNews) August 16, 2021

In another video, a group of Afghan men was seen hanging to the tires of a C-17 U.S. military aircraft, desperately seeking refuge from their homeland which is in turmoil. The agency confirmed that three Afghan men attached themselves to the plane as it took off.

"Locals near Kabul airport claim that three young men who were holding themselves tightly in the tires of an airplane fell on top of people's houses," the outlet’s tweet read. "One of the locals confirmed this and said that the fall of these people made a loud and terrifying noise."

Warning-Graphic
Locals while collecting the bodies of three men Clinging to the wheels of the plane that took off from #Kabul airport, they were then fell to the ground near Khairkahana area of Kabul#Afghanistan #Taliban pic.twitter.com/N14U55CZmj

— Aśvaka – آسواکا News Agency (@AsvakaNews) August 16, 2021

In other footage, U.S. soldiers appear to fire warning shots in the air as crowds gathered at the airport, Al Jazeera reports.

“That caused a surge of people moving toward the airport,” Rob McBride, reporting for Al Jazeera said. “It seemed as though airport security, airline and airport staff simply melted away, and it really was a free-for-all.”

In recent days, the Taliban have captured Herat and Kandahar, which are the country’s second and third largest cities. They now control about 24 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes in anticipation of an oppressive Taliban dictatorship. Previously, the group forbade women to work or attend school and restricted them from leaving their homes without a male relative being present with them.

Salima Mazari, one of the women who serve as district governors in the country, expressed her concerns about a Taliban takeover on Saturday and what it would mean for the progress that women have made.

“There will be no place for women,” she argued. “In the provinces controlled by the Taliban, no women exist there anymore, not even in the cities. They are all imprisoned in their homes.”

The Taliban has been seizing control in Afghanistan after President Joe Biden announced in April that the U.S. would be withdrawing military troops from the region after being present in the area for two decades.

“It is time to end America’s longest war,” Biden said as he announced his withdrawal plan.”It’s time for American troops to come home.”

“I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth,” he continued.

On Saturday, Biden deployed 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to help with personnel evacuation.

President Biden is expected to address the nation about the latest developments in Afghanistan later today.

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