The situation at Kabul airport began to turn chaotic on Sunday, when it began to fill with throngs of people wanting to flee the country at all costs. Initially, civilian aircraft departed, but in the evening all scheduled flights were canceled. So the desperate crowd erupted from the civic station to the parking lot and the amphitheater.
On the other side, there is a military part of the airfield, which is controlled by a battalion of several thousand American soldiers. They have been sent to Kabul in a state of emergency in the past dozens of hours. And now only that part of the airport controlled by the Americans is working. It is a relatively orderly evacuation of diplomats, foreigners and Afghans who worked closely with Western forces. According to unconfirmed information, 800 people left in one heavy C-17 tanker, although usually up to 134 passengers are loaded into the machine.
The civilian mob, however, did not want to abandon their fate and that of the Taliban. Those who were not recognized as worthy of evacuation with military machines crowded the hastily put up by the Americans. Behind them are closely packed soldiers forces Airborne United States of America.
The Americans did not surround the runway in the same way. It is common in the civilian and military parts of Kabul Airport. Every plane that lands and takes off must somehow pass through the desperate crowd. Recordings show people running past the massive C-17 tankers, rushing to take off. They cling to their structure and climb over the protruding elements. Some jump instinctively before it’s too late, but some hang on tight even when planes are off the ground. There are recordings on the network where you can see the small recordings black Points that fall from a height of C-17 and fall to the ground several hundred meters below.
In an attempt to control the situation, the Americans sent AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to deploy the Horde on the runway. When flying at a low altitude, they can successfully chase a person or even blow it up thanks to a powerful blast of rotor. However, the recordings show that the efficiency is limited, because the space created by the helicopters is quickly reoccupied by a large number of people. Military planes take off and land somehow.
With the chaos prevailing at Kabul airport, there is no complete picture of the situation. It is unknown how many people have actually died trying desperately to get out of the country. There is no reliable information about American forces firing into the crowd, although there are suggestions. Shots must have been fired.
But there is no doubt that what is currently happening at Hamid Karzai Airport will be one of the symbols of Western intervention in Afghanistan. These recordings are likely to have a larger dimension. This is something on the scale of the catastrophic end of the American intervention in Vietnam nearly half a century ago. Something that will leave a lasting mark on you.
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