Taliban task imams to urge citizens not to flee Afghanistan during Friday sermon

The Taliban have issued Friday sermon guidelines to imams and preachers across Afghanistan, telling them to urge citizens not to leave the country from fear or other reasons. 

After the Taliban's takeover of Kabul last Sunday, pictures and videos of thousands of Afghans desperately fleeing to the Kabul airport, in hopes to escape the Taliban rule, went viral on social media.

As per reports, the Taliban have instructed imams and khateebs of mosques across the country to urge citizens, during their Friday sermons, to not leave Afghanistan and instead, invest and work for its betterment.

The Taliban have urged imams to call people towards an Islamic system and national unity.

Taliban urge Afghans to leave Kabul airport

The Taliban on Thursday urged crowds of Afghans waiting outside Kabul airport in the hope of fleeing the country to go home, saying they did not want to hurt anyone, a day after Taliban fighters fired at protesters, killing three, witnesses said.

The United States and other Western powers pressed on with the evacuation of their nationals and some of their Afghan staff from the airport on Afghanistan's Independence Day, which could trigger more protests against the Islamists.

While Kabul has been generally calm since Taliban forces entered on Sunday after a week of stunning advances across the country, the airport has been in chaos as people rushed for a way out of the Afghan capital.

Twelve people have been killed in and around the airport since Sunday, a NATO and a Taliban official said. The deaths were caused either by gun shots or by stampedes, the Taliban official said.

He urged people who do not have the legal right to travel to go home. "We don't want to hurt anyone at the airport," said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified.

About 8,000 people have been flown out since Sunday, a Western security official said. The U.S. military is in charge of the airport while Taliban fighters patrol outside its walled and fenced perimeter.

On Wednesday, witnesses said Taliban gunmen prevented people from getting into the airport compound.

"It's a complete disaster. The Taliban were firing into the air, pushing people, beating them with AK-47s," said one person trying to get out on Wednesday.

A Taliban official said commanders and soldiers had fired into the air to disperse the crowd. The situation was more calm on Thursday, witnesses said.