LAST UPDATE | 22 Aug 2021

AN AFGHAN WOMAN has given birth to a baby girl on a US military plane shortly after arriving on an evacuation flight to Germany, the US Air Force tweeted today.

During the flight from a staging base in the Middle East, the woman went into labour and began to experience complications, it said.

“The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilise and save the mother’s life,” the US Air Mobility Command said later on Twitter.

Immediately on landing at the Ramstein base, US military medics helped the woman deliver her baby in the cargo hold of the plane.

Medical support personnel from the 86th Medical Group help an Afghan mother and family off a U.S. Air Force C-17, call sign Reach 828, moments after she delivered a child aboard the aircraft upon landing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Aug. 21. (cont..) pic.twitter.com/wqR9dFlW1o

— Air Mobility Command (@AirMobilityCmd) August 21, 2021

The mother and child were then transferred to a nearby medical facility “and are in good condition”, it said.

Footage released by the US military showed the mother lying on a stretcher being carried off the plane by US soldiers at the base in southwest Germany.

The US has warned of security threats and the European Union admitted it was “impossible” to evacuate everyone at risk from the Taliban, who have vowed a softer version of their brutal rule from 1996-2001.

The Taliban has blamed the United States for the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans and foreigners from the capital, one week after the hardline Islamist group returned to power in a rapid victory that stunned the world.

But terrified Afghans continue to try to flee, deepening a tragedy at Kabul airport where the United States and its allies have been unable to cope with the huge numbers of people trying to get on evacuation flights.

Britain’s defence ministry said Sunday seven people had died in the crowds, without giving further details.

Sky News on Saturday aired footage of at least three bodies covered in white tarpaulin outside the airport. It was not clear how they had died.

Reporter Stuart Ramsay, who was at the airport, called the deaths “inevitable” and said people were being “crushed”, while others were “dehydrated and terrified”.

It was the latest development of utter despair to emerge, following videos of a baby and children being passed over razor wire fences to soldiers and men hanging on to departing planes.