Kabaul

The Taliban had just seized control of the country in August and many Afghans were desperately trying to flee.

Two-month-old Sohail Ahmadi was handed to an American soldier over a fence, to protect him from the crush as thousands pushed to get into Kabul airport.

But once his family were inside, Sohail was nowhere to be found.

After a frantic but futile search for the infant, his father Mirza Ali Ahmadi, who had worked as a security guard at the US embassy, mother Suraya and their four other children were put on an evacuation flight to the US.

The first of three German evacuation planes diverted to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, because it could not land in Kabul, which lies in a valley surrounded by mountains. A second plane was circling over the city.

Crowds converged on the airport seeking to escape, including some clinging to a US military transport plane as it taxied on the runway, according to footage posted by private Afghan broadcaster Tolo news.

US troops fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way on to a military flight evacuating US diplomats and embassy staff, a US official said.