ROUTINE:

A little more than a week ago, Wardak was beaten by the Taliban as he tried to make his way to the Kabul airport in a frantic bid to leave the country. On Thursday, he was back at the airport, this time transported by a shuttle bus and cleared through security in an orderly fashion.

"Today was easy," said Wardak, 40, as he waited on the tarmac with his family of six to board a chartered flight to Doha, the first leg of a journey back home to the United States. "I'm feeling really happy that we are leaving today."

Wardak had returned to Afghanistan from his home in Maryland in 2015 to take care of his mother. Unfortunately, he said, she could not accompany him back to the United States.

"We are sorry for her, and we will miss her," he said. A short while later, he and his family were in the air.

They were among dozens of people to board the first passenger flight out of the Kabul airport since the end of the U.S.-led evacuation, an effort that enabled an estimated 120,000 people to leave the country.

But the evacuation was also defined by searing images of bedlam -- young Afghans falling from the sky as they tried to cling to a departing U.S. transport plane, babies being handed over razor wire by frantic parents and crushing crowds that left many dead.

Hundreds of children were separated from their parents, and rogue flights landed without manifests.

The scene on Thursday could hardly have been more different.

Shaheer, 16, and Rubina, 19, siblings from Ontario, Canada, were among those waiting in line to go home after failing to reach the airport earlier.

The two had traveled to Afghanistan for the month of August to visit family and then found themselves stranded in Kabul when it was overtaken by the Taliban.

"At first it was scary," said Rubina. "Honestly, the war zone was the airport. The city was fine."

She said that she did not feel threatened but was relieved to leave the country.

"When we were being let in today, they were super nice," Rubina said of the Taliban guards. "We're mostly worried to get back in time for school."

They both also hoped to return to Afghanistan soon.

"Even if I can't come back in the next few years, I'd like to come back in future years for service," Rubina said. "It's my home country, I love it."

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