Afghans remain scared and uncertain despite Taliban assurances as they take over state TV

ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine reports from a Taliban-controlled television studio in Kabul

While the global consequences of the Taliban takeover are still being assessed, on the ground Afghanistan is a place of fear and uncertainty.

The Taliban promised safe passage to Afghans who have worked for Western countries and therefore have been granted asylum abroad.

On Thursday, thousands of other Afghans who don't qualify continued to descend upon Kabul's airport in the vain hope of catching an evacuation flight.

The Taliban fired volleys over their heads in an attempt disperse them.

Video shows warning shots being fired to control crowds at Kabul Airport

At shuttered foreign embassies in Kabul, Afghans trying to get transit paper formed winding queued outside. ITV News heard from women outside the UK embassy who sought to reach Britain as they feared for their children's lives.

While the lives of many Afghans are in turmoil, the Taliban have taken over state television channels in what they say is a bid to inform and reassure the nation, though many see it as a branch of propaganda.

ITV News Senior International Affairs Correspondent John Irvine explains why there is mayhem in Kabul

When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001, they frowned upon television and imagery in general.

31-year-old Taliban administrator-turned-state broadcaster Ziaulhag Akmal is now responsible for the output.

"The people should not be afraid of us. All those who spent the last 20 years fighting, killing and injuring us, we have forgiven them, for the sake of the nation," he told ITV News.

However, another network, called Women's Television, ended its transmissions on Sunday because staff felt threatened by the Taliban. Of the 50 women who worked in front of and behind the cameras, journalist Zahra Nabi is the only one still trying to do her job, albeit via social media.

"I'm scared," she told ITV News.

"I'm a human, everybody is scared. If I run away, it means all of us have ran away. [The Taliban] will say, 'we succeeded'".

She believes that a Taliban regime means what Afghans do in their own homes will soon be restricted.

If she's right, a new dark age really has descended in Afghanistan.