Article

2021-08-17 Afghanistan

Satellite Photos Show Chaos In Afghanistan Exit, at least 10 dead

[C4ISRNET] New satellite images show a chaotic scene Monday at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan as the United States government and its allies worked to withdraw remaining personnel from the country.

With the capital falling under Taliban control on Sunday, Aug. 15, hundreds of people rushed to the airport in hopes of securing a flight out of Afghanistan. Civilians flooded the tarmac, with some reports of deaths as individuals clung to aircraft during takeoff.

New satellite images from commercial provider Maxar Technologies show crowds gathering at the airport at 10:36 a.m. local time on Aug. 16. According to the company, one image shows a Turkish airliner preparing to takeoff while security forces attempt to hold back crowds from the active tarmac, preventing them from blocking flight operations. Other images show traffic jams as people flee to the airport, as well as huge crowds gathered on and around the tarmac.

Imagery company Planet also released two satellite images of the scene in Kabul taken 45 minutes apart, which show crowds arriving at the airport.

Planet's SkySat captured two images of the Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan today, August 16th, at 8:26 and 9:11 UTC - just 45 minutes apart. The imagery gives a near real-time look into the deteriorating situation. pic.twitter.com/Qwa6GyZuM7

— Planet (@planet) August 16, 2021
The Pentagon acknowledged Monday afternoon that flights out of Kabul had been grounded, as the military worked to clear people from the airstrip.

"We’ve certainly seen all the dramatic video coming from the airport today and we obviously don’t want anyone else to get hurt," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "So we’re going to work methodically in coming hours to restore a safe and secure environment so that air operations can resume.

At Least 10 People Killed in Chaos at Kabul Airport
[ToloNews] At least 10 people were killed in the chaos at Kabul airport after crowds of thousands flocked to the area on Sunday afternoon and into Monday with the hope of leaving the country.

People entered the airport from all sides despite the presence of US forces as well as troops from other nations attempting to secure the evacuations of their respective citizens and Afghan local staff.

Shots were fired and a stampede ensued, both of which caused fatalities. AFP, quoting the US Pentagon, reported that US forces killed two armed people. Two other people were killed after they fell from a US military airplane in flight after takeoff. The people had apparently grabbed onto the aircraft from the outside.

Some eyewitnesses said that 10 were maimed.

Airport officials said that people were misinformed about available flights, and entered the area after all flights had stopped. Many of those present did not have passports.

In one video being shared widely on social media, scores of people ran alongside a large US military aircraft as it attempted to take off.

"People flocked to the airport out of fear, and unfortunately there are casualties," said Ahmad Shah Katawazi, a former official.

Despite the panic, Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
commanders in Kabul pledged that the people’s safety is their top priority.

"I ask my people to stay calm and to not be concerned. We are here to serve them," said Qari Khalid, a Taliban commander.

The last runway out of Kabul: US transport jets face complex
[AirForceTimes] The Bagram and Kandahar airfields — former military aviation hubs for the U.S.-led coalition — are now in the hands of the Taliban. That leaves the Kabul airport’s single runway as the sole remaining option for getting people to safety.

And it’s happened much faster than the Biden administration anticipated.

“All of our plans were predicated on the notion that we thought that the Afghans were going to be able to hold Kabul,” said William Wechsler, a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism in the Obama administration.

Now the U.S. and its allies must work through a unique set of challenges: securing and controlling evacuation work at the shared civilian-military airport amid chaos; vetting tens of thousands of people afraid of being left behind, and keeping the Taliban at bay.

The Biden administration should deem the effort a “noncombatant evacuation operation,” which would trigger a formal set of steps for an orderly departure, Wechsler said.

He suggested the U.S. and its allies may need a greater military presence at the airport to maintain control of the entire site while tens of thousands of people process through. The Pentagon estimates it can ferry about 5,000 people out of Afghanistan each day.

Command and control of U.S. jets going into and out of Kabul partially falls to airmen manning the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. They handle matters like scheduling the lineup of planes at the Afghan airport and coordinating the movement of air traffic, but maintaining calm and order on the ground remains outside of their purview.

That struggle was made plain Monday, when all air operations at the Kabul airport temporarily stopped due to security concerns posed by insurgent fighters who have gained control of the Afghan capital, as well as throngs of Afghan citizens swarming the facility in an attempt to leave.

No military or civilian aircraft could enter or exit the airport while American forces in AH-64 Apache helicopters tried to clear people from the tarmac.

The single runway was mobbed as a U.S. Air Force transport jet, a C-17 Globemaster III flown by airmen from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, carved its way through the crowd. Videos showed frantic Afghans running alongside the massive aircraft, clinging to its sides and — for a tragic few — plummeting back to earth as the C-17 climbed into the sky.

At least seven people have died in the airport melee, the Associated Press reported Monday, citing senior U.S. military officials. American troops killed two people who were carrying weapons, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

The U.S. may get some respite from an unlikely ally: The Taliban established a 2-kilometer buffer zone around the airport to keep Afghans from rushing the building and airfield, said Joe Saboe. The former U.S. Army infantry officer who served in Iraq now acts as a spokesman for a group of former U.S. military and federal employees who are trying to help more than 50 people leave Afghanistan.

One stunning C-17 flight carried about 640 refugees to Qatar on Sunday — a crowd believed to be among the largest ever flown on the Globemaster III, Defense One reported Monday. The military declined to answer a query from Air Force Times on the flight by the 436th Airlift Wing out of Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

“Panicked Afghans who had been cleared to evacuate pulled themselves onto the C-17′s half-open ramp. … Instead of trying to force those refugees off the aircraft, ‘the crew made the decision to go,’” a military official told Defense One. Several other jets also reportedly took off with hundreds of people on board.

Bombing may be underway in the capital of 5 million people, if briefly. The AP reported Monday that one of its journalists “saw what appeared to be an airstrike target two vehicles near the airport.”

When asked whether aircraft that were recently dispatched for last-ditch airstrikes inside the country, including platforms like B-52 bombers and AC-130 gunships, are still operating, AFCENT spokesman Phil Ventura replied, “Out of concern for operational security, we have nothing to share … regarding force posture at this time.”

Enemy forces have so far held their fire as U.S. jets rotate in and out of Kabul. The city is flanked by mountains that stretch across much of the country and have hidden insurgents during the 20-year war, raising further security concerns about ambushes amid the withdrawal.

Posted by Glailet Chineck9755 2021-08-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [18 views ] Top
File under: Taliban

#1 It's so screwed up you can see it from space.

Posted by ed in texas 2021-08-17 09:03|| 2021-08-17 09:03|| Front Page Top

The U.S. may get some respite from an unlikely ally: The Taliban established a 2-kilometer buffer zone around the airport to keep Afghans from rushing the building and airfield, said Joe Saboe.

If/when the Taliban open the buffer zone and assuming enough locals will swarm the place, that will likely be the end of all US sponsored fixed wing operations from the Kabul airport.

Posted by Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 2021-08-17 13:46|| 2021-08-17 13:46|| Front Page Top

#3 It's so screwed up you can see it from space.

That is a worthy Snark!

Posted by SteveS 2021-08-17 20:19|| 2021-08-17 20:19|| Front Page Top