Rescue Mission Impossible? US 'takes over international evacuation from Kabul airport' after Central Command held 'deconfliction' negotiations with the Taliban sparking fears that 30,000 Afghans seeking refuge could be left behind

 The evacuation operation at the international airport in Kabul was thrown into chaos on Monday, with thousands awaiting airlift after chaos on the runways that killed eight and halted all flights.

On Tuesday, Australia's defense minister said that their rescue mission will not go ahead until chaos at Kabul airport subsides as people desperately try to escape the Taliban.

Australian air force troops will base themselves in the United Arab Emirates while waiting for the Afghan capital to become safer.

Peter Dutton, the defense minister, said the tragic scenes made it incredibly difficult for Australia's mission until US forces secure the airport.

'For Australia, we won't be landing aircraft into the airport until it's safe to do so,' he told Sky News on Tuesday.

There are more than 130 Australians working for the United Nations, non-government organizations and elsewhere still in Afghanistan which is now under Taliban control.


Up to 800 Afghans who helped Australia's military including interpreters are also seeking a safe passage out of the country.

Since April, 430 Afghan employees, as well as their families, have been brought to Australia. 

American's initial plans to evacuate tens of thousands of Afghan civilians now appear unlikely to succeed, with Taliban militants in U.S.-issued armored vehicles now surrounding Hamid Karzai International Airport, cutting it off from the rest of Kabul. 

President Joe Biden, in an address to the nation on Monday afternoon, said the U.S. departure was essential. 

'I stand squarely behind my decision,' Biden said. 

'After 20 years I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. That's why we're still there.'

He blamed the Taliban's takeover on Afghan political leaders who fled the country and the Afghan army's unwillingness to fight. 

On Monday, Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan sent an urgent request for help to the Biden administration on behalf of more than 200 journalists, support staff and families of people who worked for the Post, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. For safety reasons, they wanted to be transported from the civilian to the military side of the Kabul airport.

In a memo, A.G. Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, said the developments had created a precarious and rapidly changing situation.

'I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to try to get our staff, former staff, and their families out of harm's way as soon as humanly possible,' Sulzberger said in a company-wide memo.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said it had fielded requests from 475 journalists in Afghanistan - who work for both local and international news organizations - for help leaving the country, said Maria Salazar-Ferro, the organization's emergencies director.

CPJ is working with the U.S. military, along with governments in Canada, France, Germany and Britain, to seek landing places for some of these journalists and their families, she said. But for much of Monday, no planes were leaving Kabul. 

During Monday's briefing, Major General Hank Taylor told reporters that there were currently 2,500 troops at the airport, with 3,000-3,500 expected to be there within hours.  That is set to swell to 6,000 within the coming days. 

He added: 'The airport is currently open, and two C17 planes have landed there within the last half hour.'

General Taylor went on to say that more than 700 Afghans granted special interest visas (SIVs) for helping the US war effort had departed since Saturday, with around 2,000 flown out of Afghanistan since the withdrawal began last week. 

He said that planes being used to bring troops and supplies to the airport were departing filled with US staff and refugees, and added that the US wants to pick up the pace of the rescue flights if the situation at the airport stays stable.  

Director of Defense Garry Reid confirmed that the refugees would initially be resettled at two military installations in the US - Fort Bliss in Texas, and Camp McCoy in Wisconsin. 

He said the Department of Defense hoped to house between 20,000 and 22,000 people there, but that the side could expand 'if necessary.' 

Meanwhile, Major General Taylor bristled when asked by a reporter if the fiasco which saw Kabul airport overrun was a 'failure of intel or planning'.

He answered: 'I don't think it was a lack of planning. We want to make sure air space around airport continues to be open.'

Pressed again if the chaos was the result of a lack of good intelligence, Taylor said: 'I can't answer that.'   

John Kirby, spokesman for the Department of Defense, also went on the defensive over alleged poor planning, saying: 'I would take issue with your designation of the situation at the airport as a failure.'

He continued: 'Yes, we do plan for all manner of contingencies, to try and mitigate risk, and be ready for unseen circumstances. But it's not a perfect process, and plans aren't often predictive .'     

Troop numbers are set to swell to 6,000 within days, amid concerns mount that Afghan security contractors may mutiny if they suspect they will not be given passage out of the country. 

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that all embassy personnel had been transferred to Kabul airport, but it remained unclear on Monday how many had been successfully extracted from the country. 

An estimated 10,000 Americans were at the airport on Monday night, said Fox News' Sean Hannity. 

It was also unclear how many Afghan nationals are currently at the airport seeking evacuation, but insiders say that at most, only one or two thousand translators and other civilians are likely to be airlifted out.

The evacuation operation at the international airport in Kabul has been thrown into chaos, with all civilian and military flights halted as satellite images show desperate Afghans storming the tarmac in an attempt to flee

The evacuation operation at the international airport in Kabul has been thrown into chaos, with all civilian and military flights halted as satellite images show desperate Afghans storming the tarmac in an attempt to flee

The confusion comes as Germany said it wants to evacuate up to 10,000 people, including 2,500 Afghan support staff, human rights activists, lawyers and others whose work Chancellor Angela Merkel fears puts them at risk of the Taliban.

A German evacuation plane diverted to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, because it could not land in Kabul. Another circled over the city, although authorities said late on Monday a military transport aircraft had landed to evacuate foreign nationals and Afghan staff. 

Merkel said her government would also work with countries bordering Afghanistan to try and help people flee, and admitted: 'This topic will keep us busy for a very long time.' 

Meanwhile, the UK has estimated that around 50,000 US and British people, alongside their allies, will need to be rescued. They hope to airlift around 5,000 a day, meaning that operation could last for weeks.  

U.S. troops have taken over air-traffic control functions at the airport and halted civilian flights. On Monday, military evacuation flights were halted as well to clear the runways after scores of Afghans swarmed a C-17 Globemaster on the tarmac, clinging to it as it took off, with several falling to their deaths. 

U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing the international evacuation effort, did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Monday. General Frank McKenzie, the head of CENTCOM, met directly with Taliban officials on Sunday in Doha in order to negotiate safe passage for the evacuation flights.

A U.S. official said that McKenzie and the Taliban agreed to establish a 'deconfliction mechanism' - an arrangement by which evacuation operations at the airport could continue without interference by the Islamist militants.

A U.S. defense official said American warplanes - which had been pounding Taliban targets during the withdrawal, in a failed effort to help Afghan forces block the Taliban blitz - were not currently conducting any airstrikes. 

Reports from the ground suggest that the Taliban are not interfering with the U.S. evacuation -- and in fact, their security perimeter stopping desperate Afghans from flooding into the airport may even be helping the Americans restore order on the tarmac in order to resume flights out.  

Thousands of Afghans rush to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday

Thousands of Afghans rush to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday

A Taliban fighter on top of an armored vehicle loads a gun outside the airport in Kabul. Reports from the ground suggest that the Taliban are not interfering with the U.S. evacuation, but have the airport surrounded

A Taliban fighter on top of an armored vehicle loads a gun outside the airport in Kabul. Reports from the ground suggest that the Taliban are not interfering with the U.S. evacuation, but have the airport surrounded

Nearly all civilian flights are avoiding Afghan airspace, as this map of air traffic on Monday shows

Nearly all civilian flights are avoiding Afghan airspace, as this map of air traffic on Monday shows


U.S. forces are working with Turkish and other international troops to clear Kabul airport to allow evacuation to  resume, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.

Gunmen at the airport shot at U.S. forces and U.S. troops had shot dead two armed Afghans, Kirby said. He said there were preliminary indications that one U.S. service member had been wounded.

Kirby said no flights were currently coming or going from the airport out of an abundance of caution and he did not know when they would resume, but U.S. forces had control of air traffic control at Kabul.

Several hundred people had been flown out of the airport so far and the pace of evacuation would depend on the security situation, the spokesman said.

'The U.S. military´s focus at the moment in on safety and security at the airport and resuming air operations,' he said.

On Sunday, one U.S. military C-17 was packed with 800 people upon takeoff, far in excess of the 150 people it is designed to hold, traffic control broadcasts revealed.  

The rescue mission is reminiscent of the Fall of Saigon in 1975, a disastrous few days where US Air Force helicopters flew thousands of Americans and Vietnamese civilians out of the city as the war there ended in a humiliating defeat for America. 

The shocking images from Kabul have drawn furious criticism over President Joe Biden's handling of the withdrawal.

Hundreds of people run alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the international airport, in Kabul on Monday. Several people were killed as they tried to cling to the plane as it took off

Hundreds of people run alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the international airport, in Kabul on Monday. Several people were killed as they tried to cling to the plane as it took off

Thousands of Afghans have rushed onto the tarmac at the airport, three so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto this US Air Force jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths

Thousands of Afghans have rushed onto the tarmac at the airport, some so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto the American military jet as it took off and plunged to death

People climb a barbed wire wall to enter the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday. U.S. troops have taken over air-traffic control functions at the airport and halted civilian flights

People climb a barbed wire wall to enter the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday. U.S. troops have taken over air-traffic control functions at the airport and halted civilian flights

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that all embassy personnel had been transferred to Kabul airport, but it remained unclear on Monday how many had been successfully extracted from the country

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that all embassy personnel had been transferred to Kabul airport, but it remained unclear on Monday how many had been successfully extracted from the country

A huge traffic jam is seen as Afghans congregated near the airport in an attempt to flee the country

A huge traffic jam is seen as Afghans congregated near the airport in an attempt to flee the country


The likelihood of civilian flights resuming in the near term in Kabul remained dubious. 

Several airlines, including British Airways and Air France-KLM, are avoiding Afghan airspace. 

United Airlines has started rerouting its India flights, while FlyDubai and Emirates have also suspended flights to Kabul, according to CNBC. 

Cathay Pacific said it hasn't been flying over Afghanistan for some time but is closely monitoring the situation, while spokesman for Air India said scheduled flights to Kabul cannot fly because Afghanistan is declared closed, according to Bloomberg. 

French, Dutch and Belgian military flights are now en route to Kabul to evacuate diplomats and other citizens. 

The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing an end to a two-decade campaign in which the U.S. and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan into a modern democracy. The country's Western-trained security forces collapsed or fled, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last American troops at the end of the month.

Residents raced to Kabul's international airport, where the 'civilian side' was closed until further notice, according to Afghanistan's Civil Aviation Authority. 

The U.S. military and other Western forces continued to organize evacuations.

Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people running across the tarmac as U.S. troops fired warning shots in the air. One showed a crowd pushing and shoving its way up a staircase, trying to board a plane, with some people hanging off the railings.

In another video, hundreds of people could be seen running alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moved down a runway. Some clung to the side of the jet just before takeoff. Another video showed several falling through the air as the airplane rapidly gained altitude over the city.

Senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, told The Associated Press that the chaos left seven dead, including several who fell from the flight. Other reports suggest that at least eight people have been killed. 

The storming of the airport, seen from space by passing satellites, raised questions about how much longer aircraft would be able to safely take off and land.

Shafi Arifi, who had a ticket to travel to Uzbekistan on Sunday, was unable to board his plane because it was packed with people who had raced across the tarmac and climbed aboard, with no police or airport staff in sight.

'There was no room for us to stand,' said the 24-year-old. 

'Children were crying, women were shouting, young and old men were so angry and upset, no one could hear each other. There was no oxygen to breathe.'

After a woman fainted and was carried off the plane, Arifi gave up and went back home.

The U.S. Embassy has been evacuated and the American flag lowered, with diplomats relocating to the airport to aid with the evacuation. 

Other Western countries have also closed their missions and are flying out staff and nationals.

Afghans are also trying to leave through land border crossings, all of which are now controlled by the Taliban. 

Rakhmatula Kuyash, 30, was one of the few people with a visa allowing him to cross into Uzbekistan on Sunday. He said his children and relatives had to stay behind.

'I'm lost and I don't know what to do. I left everything behind,' he said.

The French military has launched a C-130 Hercules and an A400M Atlas in order to evacuate French nationals from Afghanistan.

The Dutch military plans to operate 'multiple' flights to Afghanistan, the country's defense minister said in a statement on Monday. 


Hundreds of people run alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the Kabul airport

Hundreds of people run alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the Kabul airport

Afghan families walk by the aircrafts at the Kabul airport in Kabul on Monday, as thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the Taliban's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule

Afghan families walk by the aircrafts at the Kabul airport in Kabul on Monday, as thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the Taliban's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule

An Afghan child on the tarmac as he and elders wait to leave the Kabul airport on Monday, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan's 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee

An Afghan child on the tarmac as he and elders wait to leave the Kabul airport on Monday, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan's 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee


Thousands of Afghans swarmed the runways at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is now surrounded by the Taliban

Thousands of Afghans swarmed the runways at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is now surrounded by the Taliban

Ank Bijleveld said one aircraft was already underway to Kabul. 

'In part due to the uncertain situation multiple flights are planned,' she said.

'We are doing all we can to get embassy staff, translators and others who deserve our protection out', Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague. 'But it's very complicated.'

Last week Bijleveld put the number of Afghan translators and local staff to be evacuated at 'a few dozen,' and press agency ANP on Sunday reported that 110 translators and their families, out of 273 that worked for the Dutch mission in Afghanistan, have already been evacuated.

Belgium will send military planes to Kabul to evacuate Belgian citizens and Afghan staff, news agency Belga reported on Monday.

Foreign affairs minister Sophie Wilmes told Belgian daily Le Soir that evacuation was being organized for 47 Belgians and more than 20 Afghans who worked for the Belgian embassy, Belgian Defence, the European External Action Service, or the EU's Directorate General for Economy.

Belgium will send three military transportation planes, one Airbus 400M and two Lockheed C-130, Le Soir reported.

A senior U.S. official said 'it's heartbreaking' to see what's happening in Kabul, but that President Joe Biden 'stands by' his decision to pull out because he didn't want the war there - already the longest in U.S. history - to enter a third decade.

In interviews with U.S. television networks, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan blamed the Afghan military for the Taliban's rapid takeover, saying it lacked the will to fight.

The ease with which the Taliban took control goes beyond military prowess, however, the Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratford wrote.

'The speed of the Taliban's final advance suggests less military dominance than effective political insurgency coupled with an incohesive Afghan political system and security force struggling with flagging morale,' it said.

Powered by Blogger.