Military evacuation flights take off from Kabul

Military flights transporting diplomats and civilians out of Afghanistan started taking off on Tuesday morning, a Western security official at Kabul airport told the Reuters news agency.

The airport runway and tarmac, overrun on Monday by thousands of people desperate to flee from the Afghanistan capital, are now clear of crowds, the official said.

US forces, which are in charge at the airport, had halted the departing flights because of the chaos.