Aircraft
Secure Management of Kabul Airport Remains Open Question
Qatar and Turkey appear to be offering technical assistance, but international flights remain scarce

Few who saw videos of Afghan youths clinging to the side of a U.S. air force C-17 Globemaster transport plane as it sped up on the runway at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) on August 16, only to fall to their deaths minutes later, can forget the most indelible image of the war-torn country's descent into final chaos during the U.S.-led evacuation of Afghanistan that was set to end on August 31.

The BBC reported that by the end of that month, 120,000 Afghan or foreign nationals had departed Kabul bound for Qatar, the UAE, and Europe. The entire effort got derailed by two major suicide attacks near the airport on August 26, which killed over 100 people, including 13 U.S. servicemen and women.

Loading…