With this reality on the ground

[khatunhumaira]

French and British troops are operating in Kabul to help bring foreign nationals and at-risk Afghans into the airport, and the German military announced last week that it deployed a pair of helicopters to help support similar operations. . The US military has admitted to having carried out such a rescue mission in Kabul itself. Despite reports of at least one other similar operation, the Pentagon has continued to say it has no plans to send US forces on such missions more routinely.

All in all, the US military is still, at best, weeks away from the conclusion of its planned evacuation operation in Afghanistan. It is not clear then why the US military has only activated elements of the CRAF fleet now, despite the truth on the ground in Kabul and clearly growing problems elsewhere in the evacuation pipeline. Beyond that, it was known for months before the sudden fall of Kabul that thousands of Afghans who worked with the US government and who are now threatened with retaliation by the Taliban would need help to leave the country short. in the long run, which could have precipitated many of these same problems, whatever the security situation in Afghanistan itself. The August 31 deadline for completing the evacuation, regardless of the Taliban’s state of power in the country, only makes the delayed appeal for the CRAF all the more confusing.

At the same time, as has been the case for a week now, the ability phone number library of all foreign evacuation operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport to continue without direct hostile interference remains entirely at the whim of the Taliban. The group continues to make progress towards formalizing its return to power in Afghanistan, although armed resistance to its regime has also emerged. The US military declined to say whether or not it was ready to support these anti-Taliban elements, including air strikes.

The activation of the CRAF aircraft is clearly intended to help ensure that evacuations from Afghanistan continue as quickly and smoothly as possible, but it is not yet clear exactly why this is only happening now.