California families say they were shot at and beaten by the Taliban while trying to evacuate Afghanistan

• California families trying to escape Kabul said the Taliban shot at and beat them.
• Only seven of the eight families from a San Diego suburb managed to escape, the AP reported.
• The families were all in Afghanistan to visit relatives.

California families trying to escape Kabul during the frantic Western evacuation said they were shot at and beaten by the Taliban, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

Only seven of the eight families from El Cajon, a San Diego suburb, that were trapped in Afghanistan managed to escape, the report said, with the help of the Cajon Valley Union School District and their elected official, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa.

The families were all in Afghanistan to visit relatives, the report said. They said they dodged gunfire and had trouble getting through Taliban checkpoints during a harrowing escape process.

Though the families said they are grateful to be back, their children have suffered nightmares from the escape, the report said.

"We're delighted to have these kids back in school and their parents united, but we also know that there's a lot more work to do," Issa told the AP.

One of the fathers told the AP the first thing they did when they got back was take the kids to IHOP, their favorite restaurant.

The US completed its chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday, ending its 20-year war in the country.

But a State Department official said on Wednesday that the US left behind "the majority" of special immigrant visa applicants in Afghanistan, despite the concerted effort to evacuate interpreters and other Afghan allies before the August 31 withdrawal deadline.