Afghans flee to eastern Turkey as Taliban takes control amid chaos

Some pay smugglers to take them to Istanbul as withdrawal of US troops rekindles fears of civil war

Twenty-eight days into their journey out of Afghanistan, a woman and her five children are sitting in the shade near a bus station in Tatvan, a town on the shore of Lake Van in eastern Turkey.

She is waiting for a smuggler, who was paid in advance, to take the family to Istanbul. Tired and dirty, the younger children are playing in the dust and laughing; the youngest boy wants a piggyback. The smuggler is two days late.