US hires commercial airlines to help evacuate Kabul airport

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The Pentagon said it had ordered US civilian airlines to help remove Afghan refugees from US bases in the Middle East, as Western forces struggle to evacuate people from the country a week after the Taliban regained control.

Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defense, has activated the Civilian Reserve Air Fleet to provide commercial aircraft to support evacuation efforts from temporary safe havens, allowing military aircraft to focus on flying in and out of Kabul International Airport.

The Pentagon said US airlines including American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta, United, Omni Air and Hawaiian Airlines will provide a total of 18 aircraft.

Thousands of Afghans, desperate to leave the country, were still crowded around Kabul International Airport on Sunday, but were unable to enter the area controlled by US forces.

Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense. © Alex Brandon / AP

The Taliban, which controls entry points to the civilian side of the airport, set up checkpoints leading to the transport hub and, according to witnesses quoted by Reuters, fired in the air and used batons in an attempt to control the crowds. A NATO official said at least 20 people have died in and around the airport over the past seven days.

A person familiar with the evacuation said it was nearly impossible for people to reach the airport unless they had a diplomatic escort provided by Qatar, which has ties to the United States and the Taliban.

Qatar transported thousands of people to the airport, and resumed its operations over the weekend after being suspended on Friday for security reasons.

While the Taliban appear to have allowed Westerners to pass through checkpoints, they are preventing Afghans from passing through, said Kristian Nellemann, executive director at the Norwegian Repto Center for Global Analytics in Norway.

Video: How 20 Years of War Changed Afghanistan | FT . movie

“They are looking . . . especially for people working in the Afghan security services, which means that they are moving towards high priority targets.

“What we fear is that once the evacuation of Westerners is completed, they will start to collect people more systematically.”

The United States issued an advisory statement on Saturday asking its citizens not to travel to Kabul airport unless instructed otherwise. US officials have also warned of the growing danger of terrorist attacks by the Afghan branch of the terrorist organization ISIS, which last month launched a missile attack on the presidential palace in Kabul.

The Taliban retook Kabul a week ago after a misguided attack across the country, regaining control for the first time since they were toppled by the 2001 US invasion that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Afghans who were part of the government of ousted President Ashraf Ghani as well as security forces, activists and journalists reported being threatened by Taliban fighters, who went on a house-to-house hunt for collaborators. Ghani fled the country before the Taliban took control.

Taliban leaders, including co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul at the weekend with the goal of forming a new administration. Hamid Karzai, former Afghan president and former peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah, has pushed for an inclusive government that reflects the country’s ethnic diversity and for roles in the new administration.

Karzai and Abdullah met with senior Taliban officials, including officials from the Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated network with close ties to the Pakistani intelligence agency, in an effort to reach a power-sharing agreement.

Additional reporting by Andrew England and Helen Warrell in London

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