Staffers reported being jostled, hit, spat on and cursed at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints near the airport, it said, adding that criminals were taking advantage of the chaos while the U.S. military tried to maintain order “in an extremely physical situation.”

Some staff members reported that they were almost separated from their children, while others collapsed in crush of people and had to be taken to hospital with injuries, the cable said. Others said they had collapsed on the road because of heat exhaustion, it added.

“It would be better to die under the Taliban’s bullet” than face the crowds again, one staff member was quoted as saying in the cable.

“Happy to die here, but with dignity and pride,” another said, while a third accused the U.S. of prioritizing Afghan government elites with contacts in America, who already had the correct paperwork and other ways of fleeing the country.