Over 24 hours in Kabul, brutality, trauma, moments of grace

3 years ago 286

Bone-tired similar everyone other successful Kabul, Taliban fighters spent the past moments of the 20-year Afghanistan warfare watching the nighttime skies for the flares that would awesome the United States was gone. From afar, U.S. generals watched video screens with the aforesaid anticipation.

Relief washed implicit the war's winners and the losers erstwhile the last U.S. level took off.

For those successful betwixt and near down — perchance a bulk of the allied Afghans who sought U.S. clearance to flight — fearfulness dispersed astir what comes next, fixed the Taliban's past of ruthlessness and repression of women. And for thousands of U.S. officials and volunteers moving astir the satellite to spot Afghan refugees, determination is inactive nary rest.

As witnessed by The Associated Press successful Kabul and arsenic told by radical The AP interviewed from each sides, the warfare ended with episodes of brutality, enduring trauma, a monolithic if fraught humanitarian effort and moments of grace.

Enemies for 2 decades were thrust into a bizarre collaboration, joined successful a communal extremity — the Taliban and the United States were agreed successful wanting the United States out. They wanted, too, to debar different deadly violent attack. Both sides had a involvement successful making the past 24 hours work.

In that stretch, the Americans disquieted that extremists would instrumentality purpose astatine the hulking, helicopter-swallowing transport planes arsenic they lifted disconnected with the past U.S. troops and officials. Instead, successful the greenish tint of night-vision goggles, the Americans looked down to goodbye waves from Taliban fighters connected the tarmac.

The Taliban had disquieted that the Americans would rig the airdrome with mines. Instead the Americans near them with 2 utile occurrence trucks and functional front-end loaders on with a bleak panorama of self-sabotaged U.S. subject machinery.

After respective sleepless nights from the unrelenting thunder of U.S. evacuation flights overhead, Hemad Sherzad joined his chap Taliban fighters successful solemnisation from his station astatine the airport.

“We cried for astir an hr retired of happiness,” Sherzad told The AP. “We yelled a batch — adjacent our pharynx was successful pain.”

In the Pentagon operations halfway conscionable extracurricular Washington astatine the aforesaid time, you could perceive a pin driblet arsenic the past C-17 took off. You could besides perceive sighs of alleviation from the apical subject officials successful the room, adjacent done COVID masks. President Joe Biden, determined to extremity the warfare and facing wide disapproval for his handling of the withdrawal, got the connection from his nationalist information advisor during a gathering with aides.

“I refused to nonstop different procreation of America’s sons and daughters to combat a warfare that should person ended agelong ago,” helium said.

Gen. Mark Milley, president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was among those watching astatine the Pentagon. “All of america are conflicted with feelings of symptom and anger, sorrow and sadness," helium said later, “combined with pridefulness and resilience.”

It was a harrowing 24 hours, capped Monday by the final C-17 takeoff astatine 11:59 p.m. successful Kabul. Some who spoke to The AP astir that play requested anonymity. U.S. officials who did truthful were not authorized to place themselves.

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AIRPORT MADNESS

Before leaving Kabul, a U.S. consular serviceman with 25 years astatine the State Department was engaged trying to process peculiar visas for qualifying Afghans who made it done the Taliban, Afghan subject and U.S. checkpoints into the airport. What she saw was wrenching.

“It was horrendous what the radical had to spell done to get in,” she said. “Some radical had spent 3 to 5 days waiting. On the wrong we could perceive the unrecorded ammunition being fired to support the crowds backmost and the ones who made it successful would archer america astir Taliban soldiers with whips, sticks with nails successful them, flash-bang grenades and teardrop state pushing radical back.”

Even much upsetting, she said, were the children who got wrong the airdrome separated from family, immoderate plucked by accidental retired of teeming crowds by U.S. troops oregon others. As galore arsenic 30 children a day, galore confused and each of them frightened, were showing up unsocial for evacuation flights during the 12 days she was connected the ground.

A tiny portion astatine the airdrome for unaccompanied children acceptable up by Norway was rapidly overwhelmed, prompting UNICEF to instrumentality over. UNICEF is present moving a halfway for unaccompanied kid evacuees successful Qatar.

More broadly, the U.S. sent thousands of employees to much than a half-dozen spots astir Europe and the Middle East for screening and processing Afghan refugees earlier they moved connected to the United States, oregon were rejected. U.S. embassies successful Mexico, South Korea, India and elsewhere operated virtual telephone centers to grip the deluge of emails and calls connected the evacuations.

Over the erstwhile days successful Kabul, galore Afghans were turned backmost by the Taliban; others were allowed past them lone to beryllium stopped astatine a U.S. checkpoint. It was madness trying to benignant retired who satisfied some sides and could marque it done the gauntlet.

Some Taliban soldiers appeared to beryllium retired for unsmooth justice; others were disciplined, adjacent collegial, implicit the past hours they spent look to look with U.S. troops astatine the airport. Some were caught off-guard by the U.S. determination to permission a time earlier than called for successful the statement betwixt the combatants.

Sherzad said helium and and chap Taliban soldiers gave cigarettes to the Americans astatine the airdrome and snuff to Afghans inactive successful the azygous of their disintegrating army.

By then, helium said, “everyone was calm. Just mean chitchat.” Yet, “We were conscionable counting minutes and moments for the clip to emergence our emblem aft afloat independence."

U.S. efforts to get at-risk Afghans and others onto the airdrome grounds were analyzable by the viral dispersed of an physics codification that the U.S. sought to supply to those fixed precedence for evacuation, said a elder State Department authoritative who was connected the crushed successful Kabul until Monday.

The authoritative said the code, intended for section Afghan unit astatine the U.S. Embassy, had been shared truthful wide and rapidly that astir each radical seeking introduction had a transcript connected their telephone wrong an hr of it being distributed.

At the aforesaid time, the authoritative said, immoderate U.S. citizens showed up with ample groups of Afghans, galore not eligible for precedence evacuation. And determination were Afghan “entrepreneurs” who would falsely assertion to beryllium astatine an airdrome gross with groups of salient at-risk Afghan officials.

“It progressive immoderate truly achy trade-offs for everyone involved," the authoritative said of the selections for evacuation. "Everyone who lived it is haunted by the choices we had to make.”

The authoritative said it appeared to him, astatine slightest anecdotally, that a bulk of the Afghans who applied for peculiar visas due to the fact that of their past oregon contiguous ties with the U.S. did not marque it out.

Among the hurdles was the plan of the airdrome itself. It had been constructed with restrictive entree to forestall violent attacks and did not lend itself to allowing immoderate ample groups of radical inside, fto unsocial thousands frantically seeking entry. All of this unfolded nether changeless fearfulness of different onslaught from an Islamic State offshoot that killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. work members successful the Aug. 26 termination bombing astatine the airport.

There were times, said different U.S. authoritative acquainted with the process, erstwhile Afghans made it connected to evacuation planes, lone to beryllium pulled disconnected earlier the formation erstwhile they were recovered to beryllium connected no-fly lists.

This authoritative said that arsenic acold arsenic is known, each but 1 U.S. Embassy worker made it out. That idiosyncratic had the required peculiar visa but couldn’t carnivore to permission her parents and different relatives behind. Despite pleading from Afghan and American colleagues to get connected the evacuation autobus to the airport, she opted to stay, the authoritative said.

But a 24-year-old erstwhile U.S. contractor, Salim Yawer, who obtained visas and a gross walk with the assistance of his brother, a U.S. citizen, ne'er got retired with his woman and children aged 4 and 1 1/2. They tried 4 times to get to the airdrome earlier the Americans left.

“Each clip we tried getting to the gate, I was acrophobic my tiny children would travel nether feet of different people,” helium said. He, too, did not expect the Americans to permission Monday, and helium went backmost to the airdrome the adjacent day.

“We didn’t cognize that nighttime that the Americans would permission america behind,” Yawer said. ”Monday, still, determination were U.S. forces and planes and hopes among people. But Tuesday was a time of disappointment. ... Taliban were each implicit the country and determination was nary level successful the entity of Kabul anymore."

Yawer owned a Kabul operation institution and traveled to assorted provinces doing enactment for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, helium said from his colony backmost successful bluish Kapisa province, wherever helium fled.

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COUNTDOWN

On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 29, successful Kabul, surveillance showed radical loading explosives into the trunk of a vehicle, U.S. officials said. The U.S. had been watching the car for hours, with reports of an imminent menace of different Islamic State militant attack. An American RQ-9 Reaper drone launched a Hellfire rocket into the vehicle, successful a compound betwixt 2 buildings. U.S. officials said surveillance showed the archetypal rocket explosion, followed by a ample fireball, which they believed to beryllium caused by the explosives successful the vehicle. Neighbors disputed the U.S. claims of a conveyance packed with explosives.

On the ground, Najibullah Ismailzada said his brother-in-law Zemarai Ahmadi had conscionable arrived location from his occupation moving with a Korean charity. As helium drove into the garage, his children came retired to greet him, and that’s erstwhile the rocket struck.

“We mislaid 10 members of our family,” Ismailzada said. Six ranged successful property from 2 to 8. He said different relative, Naser Nejrabi, who was an ex-soldier successful the Afghan service and interpreter for the U.S. military, besides was killed, on with 2 teenagers.

Several hours aft the drone strike, Biden was astatine Dover Air Force Base successful Delaware to witnesser the dignified transportation of the remains of the 13 U.S. troops killed successful the erstwhile week's termination bombing and to conscionable the bereaved families. The paper helium keeps with him, listing the fig of American work members who person died successful Iraq and Afghanistan, had been updated with “plus 13,” according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the president’s speech with the families.

In the last scramble astatine the Kabul airdrome that evening, evacuees were directed to circumstantial gates arsenic U.S. commanders communicated straight with the Taliban to get radical out.

— About 8 a.m. Monday, explosions could beryllium heard arsenic 5 rockets were launched toward the airport. Three fell extracurricular the airport, 1 landed wrong but did nary harm and 1 was intercepted by the U.S. anti-rocket system. No 1 was hurt.

Again, Islamic State militants, communal foe of some the Taliban and the Americans, were suspected arsenic the source.

— Through the morning, the past 1,500 oregon truthful Afghans to get retired of the state earlier the U.S. withdrawal near connected civilian transport. By 1:30 p.m., 1,200 U.S. troops remained connected the crushed and flights began to determination them steadily out.

U.S. airpower — bombers, combatant jets, equipped drones and the peculiar operations helicopters known arsenic Little Birds — provided aerial cover.

— Into the evening, U.S. troops finished respective days' enactment destroying oregon removing subject equipment. They disabled 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft, often draining transmission fluids and motor lipid and moving the engines until they seized. They utilized thermite grenades to destruct the strategy that had intercepted a rocket that morning. Equipment utile for civilian airdrome purposes, similar the occurrence trucks, were near down for the caller authorities.

— At the end, less than 1,000 troops remained. Five C-17 planes came successful acheronian to instrumentality them out, with crews specially trained to alert into and retired of airfields astatine nighttime without aerial postulation control.

From Scott Air Force Base successful Illinois, Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, commandant of Air Mobility Command, watched connected video screens arsenic the craft filled and lined up for takeoff. An iconic representation showed Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commandant of the 82nd Airborne Division, carrying his M-4 firearm arsenic walked into a C-17 and into past arsenic the past of the U.S. soldiers successful Afghanistan.

Crisp orders and messages captured the past moments.

“Chock 5 100% accounted for," said 1 message, meaning each 5 craft were afloat loaded and each radical accounted for. ”Clamshell,” came an order, meaning retract the C-17 ramps 1 by one. Then, “flush the force,” meaning get out.

— One infinitesimal to midnight, the past of the 5 took off.

Soon came the connection “MAF Safe,” meaning the Mobility Air Forces were gone from Kabul aerial abstraction and successful harmless skies.

The American generals relaxed. From the crushed successful Kabul, Taliban combatant Mohammad Rassoul, known among different fighters arsenic “Afghan Eagle," had been watching, too.

“Our eyes were connected the entity desperately waiting," helium said. The roar of planes that had kept him up for 2 nights had stopped. The Taliban flares astatine the airdrome streaked the sky.

“After 20 years of conflict we achieved our target," Rassoul said. He dared anticipation for a amended beingness for his wife, 2 daughters and son.

“I privation my children to turn up nether peace," helium said. "Away from drone strikes.”

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Akhgar and Faiez reported from Istanbul; Lee, Baldor and Woodward from Washington. Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon successful Kabul, Robert Burns, Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller successful Washington and Ellen Knickmeyer successful Oklahoma City contributed.

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