Kabul update: Heart-wrenching video of US Marine lifting baby over barbed wire goes viral

Even as heart-wrenching videos keep pouring in from Afghanistan, each time shaking our conscience, there seems no end to the woes of the common Afghans as they try to flee from the Taliban rule and its atrocities. In another heart-breaking video from Kabul which caught global attention on Friday, a US Marine was seen lifting a baby over a razor wire-topped wall of the airport. 

The video shows an infant being handed over to the US troops standing on the wall enclosing Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is topped with razor wire. The soldier is seen pulling up the baby by grasping one of its arms. This video is shot amid a huge crowd of Afghans seeking to enter the airport.

According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, the US Marines were told that the unidentified baby was sick and requested help. "So the Marine you see reaching over the wall took it to a Norwegian hospital that is at the airport. They treated the child and returned the child to the father," he told reporters. "It was an act of compassion because there was concern about the baby," he added.

Nearly one week into the airlift to evacuate foreigners and Afghans from the war-torn country, such visuals are becoming common. Earlier this week, video footage showed Afghans similarly lifting their children up and over crowds in an attempt to get them to US troops.

Nearly 6,000 heavily armed US troops have taken control of the airport, while the Taliban fighters patrol the streets outside.

The US military released several other officially approved photographs of soldiers helping out Afghan children of parents hoping to escape the Taliban. In one, a soldier in his combat gear sits with a blanketed baby in his arms while his fellow soldiers stand nearby on alert. In another, two female American soldiers hold babies in their arms.