US ramps up emergency Kabul Airlift to get 5,000 to 9,000 out per day

KABUL (Defenseone): The U.S. is ramping up its airlift for Americans and Afghans fleeing the Taliban and will be able to evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 people per day, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Tuesday.

The rapid escalation of military airlift—ramping up to as many as one departing flight per hour within the next 24 hours—is occurring as the Taliban have taken control of all traffic outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Defense Department officials are now in direct talks with Taliban leaders on that perimeter security and to avoid any escalation of conflict while the U.S. conducts evacuation operations, Kirby said.

“Our commanders at the airport are in communication with Taliban commanders on the ground outside the airport, there have been discussions …. and I would just let the results speak for themselves,” Kirby said.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon also acknowledged the extraordinary efforts of an Air Mobility Command C-17 Globemaster crew, Reach 871, who chose not to force out hundreds of Afghans who scrambled over a half-closed back ramp and instead got as many aboard as they could, then took off, rescuing a total of 640 evacuees. The photo of their evacuation was exclusively reported by Defense One.

“This was an aircrew trying to be as humane as they could,” Kirby said in a phone interview. “That photo speaks a thousand words as to the humanity of that aircrew.”

Overnight, an additional 1,000 U.S. troops landed at the airfield to bolster the roughly 3,000 already there, said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, director of current operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Overnight, about another 700 Afghans and 165 American citizens were flown out of the country, Taylor said.