Us Troop Presence At Kabul Airport: Numbers And Purpose

The US military's evacuation of Afghanistan following the Taliban's seizure of Kabul involved a large number of troops at Kabul airport. The number of US troops at the airport rose to 4,500 in August 2021, with a further increase to 6,000 expected in the coming days. The evacuation efforts were marked by chaos and desperation, with Afghans clinging to airplanes and mothers handing their babies to foreign soldiers over barbed wire walls. The US military carried out its biggest day of evacuation flights on 23 August 2021, with 28 flights ferrying approximately 10,400 people to safety. However, deadly violence and threats from the Taliban persisted, and a suicide bombing at the airport on 26 August 2021 killed at least 182 people, including US troops and Afghan civilians.

The US military evacuated about 10,400 people from Kabul in one day

The evacuations were carried out in coordination with the Taliban, who held off on attacking Americans under a 2020 withdrawal deal with the Trump administration. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the deconfliction with the Taliban had "worked well in terms of allowing access and flow as well as reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport".

The evacuations were not without danger, however. There were reports of Taliban fighters and crushing crowds that made approaching the airport difficult and dangerous. A firefight just outside the airport killed at least one Afghan soldier, and was the latest in days of often-lethal turmoil outside the airport.

The US military went beyond the airport to carry out helicopter retrievals of Americans. U.S. officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 American citizens and brought them onto the airfield for evacuation. This was in addition to three Army helicopters that picked up 169 Americans near a hotel just beyond the airport gate and flew them to the airfield on Thursday.

The evacuations were part of a larger effort to airlift people out of Afghanistan following the Taliban's rapid takeover. Between 14 and 25 August, the US alone evacuated about 82,300 people from Hamid Karzai International Airport. In total, over 122,000 people were airlifted from Afghanistan, making it one of the largest airlifts in history.

The Taliban signalled they might soon shut down evacuation airlifts

The Taliban signaled they might soon shut down evacuation airlifts as the US military carried out its biggest day of evacuation flights out of Afghanistan. Twenty-eight US military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over 24 hours, and 15 C-17 flights over the next 12 hours brought out another 6,660. The Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, attributed the faster pace of evacuation to the constant coordination with Taliban commanders to get evacuees into the airport.

With access to the airport still difficult, the US military went beyond the perimeter to carry out helicopter retrieval missions of Americans. US officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 American citizens on Monday and brought them to the airfield for evacuation. This was in addition to three Army helicopters that picked up 169 Americans near a hotel beyond the airport gate last Thursday and flew them to the airfield.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that talks with the Taliban are ongoing as the administration looks for additional ways to safely move Americans and others into the Kabul airport. He added that it will be Biden's decision alone on whether to continue with the evacuation operations beyond August 31, the date set for the complete withdrawal of troops.

However, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen stated that August 31 is a "red line" and that extending the American presence would "provoke a reaction". The Taliban's warning signaled that they could insist on shutting down the airlifts out of Kabul airport in just over a week, a move that could leave countless Afghans and foreigners stranded and hoping for flights out.

The US had about 650 troops in Afghanistan in early August 2021

The US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan had been negotiated by the Trump administration in February 2020, with a deadline of 1 May 2021. The Biden administration delayed this deadline to 11 September 2021, and then to 31 August 2021. The last US military planes left Kabul airport on 30 August 2021.

The US troop presence in Afghanistan had been steadily decreasing since the Trump administration. In November 2020, there were 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan, which was reduced to 2,500 by January 2021. The US had about 13,000 troops in Afghanistan when the withdrawal agreement was signed in February 2020.

The US had to conduct crowd control as thousands of Afghan civilians rushed the airport

The US had to conduct crowd control as thousands of Afghan civilians rushed Kabul airport, with some so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto an American military jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths. The crowds came while the Taliban enforced their rule over the capital of 5 million people after a lightning advance across the country that took just over a week to dethrone the country's Western-backed government. There were no major reports of abuses or fighting, but many residents stayed home and remained fearful after the takeover saw prisons emptied and armories looted.

The US troops took positions to guard the active runway, but the crowd stormed past them and their armored vehicles. Gunshots rang out. As one US Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III tried to take off, a helicopter did low runs in front of it to try to drive people off the runway. Videos showed a group of Afghans hanging onto the plane just before takeoff and several falling through the air as the airplane rapidly gained altitude over the city. Senior American military officials said the chaos left seven dead, including several who fell from the flight. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said US forces killed two people he described as carrying weapons in the melee.

The US military pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights out of Afghanistan, but deadly violence that blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul's airport persisted. Twenty-eight US military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over 24 hours, and 15 C-17 flights over the next 12 hours brought out another 6,660. The Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said the faster pace of evacuation was partly due to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees into the airport.

The situation at the airport descended into disorder, with flights unable to leave because the airfield was filled with Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban. The US military went beyond the airport to carry out helicopter retrievals of Americans. U.S. officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 American citizens and brought them onto the airfield for evacuation. This was in addition to at least one other rescue mission beyond the airport.

The US had to deploy an additional 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne to the airport

The US had to deploy an additional 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021. This was part of a larger deployment of 6,000 troops to the country to facilitate the evacuation of US personnel and Afghans who had assisted the US mission, as the Taliban took control of several regions and the presidential palace. The total number of US troops at the airport was expected to reach 6,000 in the coming days, according to Pentagon officials.

The 82nd Airborne Division's commander, Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, led the additional troops to Afghanistan. They were sent directly to Kabul instead of Kuwait, where they were originally supposed to go. This decision was made after Gen. Frank McKenzie, Commander of the US Central Command, met with representatives of the Taliban and told them not to interfere with the US evacuation mission at the airport.

The US troops at the airport were responsible for providing security and assisting in the evacuation of American citizens and Afghans with special immigrant visas. The evacuation efforts were chaotic and dangerous, with crushing crowds and sporadic gunfire, beatings, and violence by the Taliban. Despite these challenges, the US military was able to increase the number of evacuation flights out of Kabul, with a record number of people being flown out of the country.

The deployment of the 82nd Airborne Division to Afghanistan was intended to be temporary, with a specific focus on securing and operating the airfield at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby emphasised that the unit was chosen for its abilities as the Global Response Force, and Maj. Gen. Donahue's experience in securing airfields. The mission was deemed to be of historical significance, with US military leaders committed to the protection of American and Afghan lives during the evacuation process.

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