Western nationals trying to flee Kabul have described being crushed and groped during a stampede of Afghans held at Taliban checkpoints outside the airstrip providing evacuation flights as Afghanistan is taken over by the Islamist terror group.

Armed militants have surrounded the capital’s airport and seized control of all access points, meaning they they can decide who stays and who leaves the Middle Eastern state as the Taliban plunge Afghanistan back into what locals and many Western governments fear will be Islamic tyranny.

Ex-Royal Marine commando Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing described how his wife and pregnant employee, from whom he has been separated, had been ‘crushed, groped and pushed’ by crowds outside the airport – and had been denied entry by British and US troops stationed there.

In videos posted to Facebook, Farthing said they are now in a secure British location, but furiously urged Boris Johnson to ‘get his s**t together’ and slammed ‘snake’ Joe Biden’s ‘absolutely disgusting’ withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan following the 20-year Western intervention.

He also took fire at the British troops who allegedly prevented his wife from entering Kabul airport, adding: ‘They should not be wearing the beret of Her Majesty’s British forces if they’re not prepared to open that gate for a pregnant woman.’

One female student also described how she feared she would be crushed to death by panicking crowds at Kabul airport. Speaking to MailOnline, Aisha Ahmad – who studies in the capital – said: ‘People had heard that the Americans were letting people onto the aircraft to get them out of the country.

‘I didn’t believe it at first, but then I went to the airport and saw that people had been allowed onto the tarmac without any checks, so I thought maybe it was true.

‘There were thousands of people inside the airport. Then at one point we were all pushed back by the Taliban police to get us out of the airport and women and children were trampled under people’s feet.

‘I couldn’t breathe in the crush and I really thought I was going to die. My feet are all swollen and covered in bruises. We thought there was a flight going to Germany which we might get on, but in the end they only took German nationals on board.’

She added: ‘From what I can see in the media, the situation inside the perimeter has calmed down a bit, but that has just transferred the problem outside onto the streets. People are so desperate.’

Aisha has received ‘serious threats’ from Islamists after changing her Twitter profile image to one of ex-law student Breshna Musazai, who was shot twice by the Taliban in 2016 but survived the assassination attempt and who works with an NGO to help girls receive an education.

She also that Kabul was like a ‘ghost town’ since the Taliban had arrived and most shops were closed as traders worried about the worsening security situation and the possibility of looters.

‘People are very conflicted about the future and what kind of Taliban we are facing now. Some think they’ve changed, and others are not so sure. I personally believe they will be softer for a few months, and then after that they will be the same Taliban of old,’ Aisha said.

‘I have lost all hope and I don’t think it will be an easy path for Afghan women. My mother used to tell me stories about what the Taliban did and now I fear it will all come true like a bad dream.’

Farthing said on Facebook: ‘If I hear on the radio or the TV one more time that the airport is secure, its not – absolutely not. And for them to try to be evacuated and have to be groped, pushed and crushed to get to the gate and then refused by the British soldiers and the American soldiers on the other side to open it – all those soldiers need to grow a pair.

‘Boris Johnson, you get your s**t together. I am absolutely furious. They are now out on the streets of Kabul at night trying to get back here. This is a complete cluster. This is the biggest cluster, and if they get injured or hurt, I am holding you 1000 per cent responsible.

‘We will not be leaving, if they get here safely, we will not be leaving here again until that airport is secured and you can get into it. Don’t you dare send another expat or any of these innocent Afghans to that airport to try to get them in through the thousands, the thousands of desperate people that are trying to get in there.

‘You have not got a grip on this, your military does not have a grip of this.

‘Boris Johnson and his government and the Americans, and that absolute snake Joe Biden, you are responsible for this, absolutely responsible. Saying you have no regrets about withdrawal? You have totally f**ked this up.’

Streams of people, some clutching immigration documents, have been queuing under the guns of armed Taliban as Apache helicopters buzzed through the air. However, military chiefs have admitted that people wanting to be evacuated will be relying on terrorists letting them through.

At least 12 military flights took off from Kabul Airport today, including three UK planes as the Ministry of Defence aims to ferry up to 7,000 Britons and Afghan allies out of the country. Most are heading to other stable parts of the Middle East, where the passengers catch charter flights back to Britain. A British student who took a holiday to Afghanistan before being trapped by the Taliban takeover today shared a video from inside a military plane as he landed in Dubai after being evacuated to safety.

Some 370 UK embassy staff and British nationals were flown out by the RAF on Sunday and Monday, adding to the 289 Afghan nationals transported last week.  A further 350 Britons and Afghans should be taken out of the country in the next 24 hours – but the pace will need to be stepped up dramatically if those at highest risk are to get to safety.

There are at least 56,000 people who need evacuating from Afghanistan – including some 22,000 flying on US special immigrant visas, 4,000 British nationals, 10,000 refugees that Germany has said it will accept, and 20,000 bound for Canada. In reality, that number is likely to be far higher once diplomatic staff from dozens of countries which had relations with Afghanistan’s former government are taken into account.

The US said it may issue up 80,000 special immigrant visas to those who helped with combat operations and are likely to face revenge attacks from the Taliban, while 7,500 troops currently guarding the airport – including 6,000 Americans and smaller numbers of British, Turkish and Australians – will also need to leave.

At least 6,000 people have already managed to flee the country on evacuation flights that began on Sunday, with a dozen departing on Tuesday – most of them flying to neighbouring Middle Eastern countries before continuing their journeys west.

Spain, France and India confirmed their diplomatic staff were evacuated on Tuesday. Russia and Indonesia said their embassies will be partially evacuated, while the EU mission said staff including its ambassador Andreas Von Brandt are still in the country and will need to leave.

Mr Johnson hopes to convene a meeting of G7 world leaders at the ‘earliest opportunity’ as he looks to co-ordinate the international response, as Mr Raab said the UK would have to work with ‘challenging’ partners on how to deal with the Taliban.

It comes as the Taliban held its first press conference on Tuesday as the regime’s co-founder and political chief Mullah Baradar arrived in Kandahar province after 20 years of exile, confirming their grip on power.

During the briefing, a spokesman claimed women would not be persecuted under their Islamist regime – though fears remain of a return to the Taliban’s war on women in the 1990s, when female Afghans were beaten in the streets, publicly executed, and denied work or education.

In a day of fast-moving developments:

• Taliban’s deputy leader and co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kandahar on Tuesday after 20 years of exile – confirming regime’s grip on power;
• The Taliban held a press conference in which the group said they ‘want to live peacefully’ and  insisted it would respect women’s rights ‘within Islamic law’;
• Joe Biden was condemned for the ‘humiliating’ retreat after Afghan forces capitulated with barely a fight;
• EU foreign ministers met in Brussels for emergency talks amid fears over a new European refugee crisis;
• Mr Johnson is pushing for a virtual G7 meeting to be arranged, raising the idea with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a call today and doing the same during talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday