这是“可汗”、他怀孕的妻子和他们3岁的儿子第三次试图到达喀布尔国际机场——这是迄今为止最令人痛心的一次——最终他们成功了。
据汗的美国律师称，汗周三乘坐美军飞机离开阿富汗，以逃避塔利班的接管及其战斗人员多年来因他为美国服务而对他发出的威胁。为了安全起见，他的真名不是美国广播公司新闻
成千上万的阿富汗人仍生活在痛苦和恐惧中。用美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯的话来说，拜登政府已经承诺“在尽可能长的时间内疏散尽可能多的阿富汗人”，但这项任务仍然艰巨而混乱——尤其是因为塔利班武装分子继续封锁机场。
目前还不清楚政府承诺疏散多少阿富汗人，他们将被带到安全的地方，以及谁有资格获得令人垂涎的军事和包机座位。
汗是一名受过训练的计算机科学家，他和他的兄弟“穆罕默德”一起为一家美国国防承包商工作，他花了几年时间等待一份特殊的移民签证。
在等待签证10年后，穆罕默德终于在去年12月得知他获得了批准。不到一个月后，他在上班的路上被枪杀，他10岁的儿子就在他身边的车里。
可汗本应和他们一起旅行，但在1月的那个早上不得不跑腿。最近几个月，他一直在躲藏，通过电话和短信收到死亡威胁，并等待家人的特殊移民签证最终确定。
周六，在美国驻喀布尔大使馆关闭的几个小时前，他和他的家人拿到了签证。
但这只是成功的一半。对于美国公民和持有签证的阿富汗人来说，到达机场并进入机场几乎是一项不可能完成的任务。
根据美国广播公司新闻获得的大使馆电子邮件通知，国务院已通知一名所有美国公民和一些阿富汗签证持有者前往机场，并以大写字母警告他们“不能保证你这次旅行的安全”。
汗和他的家人周日进行了第一次尝试，周二再次尝试，但有太多的塔利班武装分子击退了人群，甚至无法靠近。
周三，他们尝试了一种不同的方法，靠近北侧的一个大门。但据汗的美国律师朱莉·科恩菲尔德说，在那里，他们遇到了试图通过向空中开枪和使用催泪瓦斯驱散人群的美国军队，朱莉·科恩菲尔德来自国际难民援助项目，在这一事件中与他一起面对时间。
五角大楼发言人约翰·柯比周三证实，作为“人群控制措施”的一部分，在周边提供安全保护的美军向空中发射了武器
科恩菲尔德和IRAP已经提交了几份请愿书，要求国务院疏散所有申请特殊移民签证的阿富汗人及其家人，法律倡导组织估计，总共约有10万阿富汗人。
“时机再紧急不过了。现在阿富汗政府已经崩溃，塔尔班家族已经接管，时间很快就不多了。我们需要在为时已晚之前让尽可能多的人搭乘航班离开美国，美国有法律和道德义务这样做，”IRAP执行董事贝卡·海勒(Becca Heller)表示。
海勒呼吁美国政府确保像汗这样的美国人和阿富汗人安全通过喀布尔机场。国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文(Jake Sullivan)周二表示，美国与塔利班达成了一项协议，以确保安全通行，但在当地的几名阿富汗人告诉美国广播公司新闻，他们已经被封锁。在某些情况下，塔利班战斗人员用锁链或向空中零星射击来击退人群。
但是根据科恩菲尔德的说法，手里拿着签证，汗和他的家人决心通过机场，他告诉美国广播公司新闻，“最终，是他的坚持让他们进来的。”
科恩菲尔德说，在看起来不会发生的几个小时里，他们考虑了其他选择，包括汗留下他怀孕的妻子和儿子，看看他是否能继续前进，然后回来接他们——她说，这是一个痛苦的决定。
“这是一个动态的情况。地面上的情况正在迅速变化，一个客户关于接入点在哪里的成功故事不会持续下去，”科恩菲尔德补充道。
她补充说，一旦进入，这个过程会更有效率，她的两个客户和他们的家人在进入机场后30分钟内就可以登机并接受处理。沙利文周二表示，自美国军方周一晚间能够确保机场安全以来，更多的疏散航班“一个接一个，热卸载和热卸载”地涌入，他告诉记者。
但在机场外，混乱仍在继续。
美国大使馆周三晚间发出警报，建议美国公民和合法永久居民或绿卡持有者“应该考虑”前往机场——这引发了人们再次涌向机场。
周一，人群闯入大院，冲进停机坪，包围了一架准备起飞的美国军用飞机。据一名国防部官员称，几名平民在事件中丧生，美国军方最终不得不清除停机坪上的15000人。
海勒说:“美国政府不愿意保护我们的盟友，因为他们牺牲了自己的安全，在许多情况下牺牲了自己的生命，这是历史上前所未有的失败，只有持续努力控制机场，有意义地疏散民众，才能开始补救。
美国激增了外交人员，将领事官员的人数增加了一倍，并派遣前驻阿富汗大使约翰·巴斯(John Bass)前往机场协调混乱的疏散工作，尽管除了一个核心团队之外，美国大使馆的所有人员都在周二撤离了大院。
An Afghan family's harrowing account of getting to Kabul's airport
It was on the third attempt that "Khan," his pregnant wife and their 3-year old son made to get to Kabul’s international airport -- the most harrowing yet -- when they were finally successful.
Khan, whose real name ABC News is not using for his security, made it on a U.S. military flight out of Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to his U.S. lawyer, fleeing the Taliban takeover and the threats its fighters had made against him for years because of his service to the U.S.
Tens of thousands of Afghans remain behind in anguish and fear. The Biden administration has promised to evacuate "as many Afghans as we possibly can for as long as we can," in the words of State Department spokesperson Ned Price, but the task remains immense and chaotic -- not least because Taliban fighters continue to block access to the airport.
It's unclear how many Afghans the administration is committed to evacuating, where they will be brought to safety and who qualifies for a coveted seat on military and chartered flights.
Khan, a computer scientist by training who worked for a U.S. defense contractor alongside his brother "Mohammad," had spent years waiting for a special immigrant visa.
After waiting 10 years for a visa, Mohammad finally learned last December that he was granted approval. Less than a month later, he was gunned down on his way to work, his 10-year old son by his side in the car.
Khan was supposed to travel with them but had to run errands that morning in January. He has spent recent months in hiding, receiving death threats by phone and text message and waiting for his family's special immigrant visas to be finalized.
On Saturday, hours before the U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed its doors, he and his family were able to pick up their visas.
But that is only half the battle. For U.S. citizens and Afghans with visas, reaching the airport and getting inside has been a nearly impossible task.
The State Department has informed a all American citizens and some Afghan visa holders to travel to the airport, warning in capital letters that they "cannot guarantee your security as you make this trip," according to the embassy email notice obtained by ABC News.
Khan and his family made their first attempt on Sunday and tried again Tuesday, but there were too many Taliban fighters pushing back crowds to even get close.
On Wednesday, they tried a different approach, nearing a gate on the north side. But there, they encountered U.S. troops trying to disperse crowds by shooting into the air and using tear gas, according to Khan's U.S. lawyer Julie Kornfeld from the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, who was FaceTiming with him during the episode.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed Wednesday that American troops providing security at the perimeter fired their weapons in the air as part of "crowd control measures."
Kornfeld and IRAP have filed several petitions to order the State Department to evacuate all Afghans who have applied for special immigrant visas and their families -- some 100,000 Afghans in total, the legal advocacy group estimates.
"The timing could not be more urgent. Now that the Afghan government has collapsed and the Talban have taken over, time is quickly running out. We need to get as many people on flights out of the country before it is too late, and the U.S. has a legal and a moral obligation to do so," said Becca Heller, IRAP's executive director.
Heller called on the U.S. government to secure safe passage to Kabul's airport for Americans and Afghans like Khan. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the U.S. had an agreement with the Taliban to ensure safe passage, but several Afghans on the ground have told ABC News they have been blocked. In some cases, Taliban fighters beat back crowds with chains or by firing sporadic gunfire into the air.
But with their visas in hand, Khan and his family were determined to get through to the airport, according to Kornfeld, who told ABC News, "Ultimately, it was his persistence that got them in."
In the hours when it seemed like it wouldn't happen, Kornfeld said they considered other options, including Khan leaving his pregnant wife and son behind to see if he could push ahead and come back to get them -- an agonizing decision, she said.
"It's a dynamic situation. Things are rapidly changing on the ground, and one client's success story of where the access points are is not going to hold up," Kornfeld added.
Once inside, the process was more efficient, she added, with two of her clients and their families on flights within 30 minutes of entering the airport and being processed. Sullivan said Tuesday that since the U.S. military was able to secure the airport late Monday, more evacuation flights have been flowing in "one after another, hot unloading and hot offloading," he told reporters.
But outside the airport, chaos continues to reign.
An alert from the U.S. embassy late Wednesday advised U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, they "should consider" travelling to the airport -- sparking crowds of people rushing there again.
Crowds broke into the compound on Monday, rushing the tarmac and surrounding a U.S. military aircraft that was preparing for takeoff. Several civilians died in the incident, and the U.S. military eventually had to clear 15,000 people from the tarmac, according to a defense official.
"The unwillingness of the U.S. government to protect our allies after they sacrificed their safety and in many cases their lives is a historically unprecedented failure that only a sustained attempt to hold the airport and meaningfully evacuate people can begin to remedy," said Heller.
The U.S. has surged diplomatic personnel, doubling the number of consular officers and dispatching former ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass to the airport to coordinate the chaotic evacuation effort even as all but a core team from the U.S. embassy were evacuated from the compound Tuesday.
