Two years ago today, chaos ensued at Kabul Airport as the Taliban took full control of Afghanistan, which resulted in thousands of people being airlifted and evacuated.
Dubbed the Kabul Airlift, a mixture of passenger and military aircraft flocked to that airport to repatriate diplomats, evacuate those with valid passports, as well as other people of interest.
The Mass Panic Observed At Kabul Airport…
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Many images and video came from Kabul Airport consisting of people trying to flee by running on the runway to a USAF C-17, to people sitting on the top of a Kam Air Airbus A340.
So how did this happen?
Following the Afghan Peace Process that was signed by the Trump Administration and the Taliban in Doha, the U.S agreed to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.
When President Biden got into power, he pushed the completion date to September 11, 2021, and then to August 31, 2021.
However, on May 1, 2021, the Taliban and allied militant groups began a country-wide offensive, which saw the group take control of the Afghan National Army.
From there, their influence spread from 77 districts on April 13, to 104 districts on June 16, and then to 223 on August 3.
By August 14, the Taliban had encircled Kabul, which caused the mass evacuation of people based in the area, which has been dubbed as the Kabul Airlift.
Such evacuations continued until the end of August, but by August 15, the Taliban had declared victory in Afghanistan, following its major assertions around the country.
As imaged above, the global military response was very significant, with many world powers sending hundreds of aircraft in to facilitate this airlift.
Unfortunately, many lost their lives either falling off the aircraft, or never making it onto a plane in the first place.
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