Kabul, 18 August 2021 (dpa/MIA) — Hundreds of Afghan families camped out at the Kabul airport held onto the slim hope of getting a flight out on Wednesday as the country's new rulers, the Taliban, held a meeting with other political forces. Videos on social media showed images of Afghans who either feel threatened by the Taliban or simply do not want to live under the Islamists' strict rules begging US soldiers to let them board the planes. False rumors that everyone who makes it to the airport will be evacuated by Western countries had prompted many Afghans to head to the area, leading to the delay of numerous evacuation flights and scenes of chaos and panic as people spilled out onto the runways. Representatives of the Taliban had meanwhile met with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, for discussions, reportedly at Abdullah's house, though there were no details on the topics. On Tuesday, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had said that the Islamist militants were seeking to build an Islamic government and promised that everyone will have a part when it is formed. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Afghanistan's ousted President Ashraf Ghani, who fled in what he said was an effort to prevent bloodshed, was currently in the United Arab Emirates with his family "on humanitarian grounds," according to the UAE Foreign Ministry. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that at the moment, security at Kabul airport was secure. There were a total of 62 flights from Kabul over the past two days, Akar said, according to the state news agency Anadolu. The non-governmental organization Emergency, which runs a local hospital in Kabul, said on Wednesday that it had received 37 injured people, five of them in life-threatening condition, in the past 24 hours. The day before, it had reported nine deaths, four of which happened after shots were fired at the Kabul airport by the US and Taliban. Since Sunday, the Kabul airport has remained closed to civilian flights, and only military planes were landing and taking off, evacuating Westerners and their local staff. In a joint statement, the European Union, the US, Britain and other countries insisted that the rights of women and girls be respected. "We are deeply worried about Afghan women and girls, their rights to education, work and freedom of movement," according to the statement. Germany had four evacuation flights from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan planned for Wednesday and has managed to bring 400 people to safety so far, while France has now flown out most of the people who had taken refuge from the Taliban at the French embassy building. Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic are also operating evacuation flights. Turkey has evacuated more than 200 of its citizens from Kabul airport on Wednesday, state news agency Anadolu reported. More than 350 people had separately been evacuated on Monday and Tuesday, according to Anadolu. Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara was awaiting the results of ongoing talks between the Taliban and other Afghan politicians. He criticized the US for having left "chaos" behind in the country. The Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority on Tuesday night requested that Kabul residents come to the airport only if they were contacted by the international forces or Western countries' embassies. One of the country's largest private airlines, Kam Air, said it was working hard to resume its normal flights as soon as possible. The Taliban brutally ruled Afghanistan for about five years at the end of the 20th century, imposing their ultraconservative Islamic views. US-backed forces ousted them in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Many who experienced that time are unwilling to take their chances and have desperately sought to escape the country.