Images coming out of Afghanistan on Monday morning showed large numbers of people running in front of U.S. military cargo planes that were taking off, forcing the military to use helicopters to clear people off the tarmac so the planes could takeoff.
Other disturbing images showed objects falling from the cargo planes once they were hundreds, if not a couple thousand feet, above the ground after takeoff. Various news reports, including Newsweek, the Daily Mail, and Hareetz reported that the objects falling from the planes were people.
WATCH:
Afghanistan’s tragedy right now in Kabul international airport: Afghan youth on the engine of American plane to leave the country. pic.twitter.com/CoTS8sq9c3
— Muslim Shirzad (@MuslimShirzad) August 16, 2021
16 August , 2021, Hamid Karzai international Airport. pic.twitter.com/DiPlvnsaaZ
— BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) August 16, 2021
It is chaos at Kabul airport. Planes are taking off and landing and people are running across the runway. pic.twitter.com/kKrg667AQB
— Sowaibah Hanifie (@SowaibahH) August 16, 2021
— Sowaibah Hanifie (@SowaibahH) August 16, 2021
Below are videos that allegedly show people falling from the planes (warning: graphic):
Exclusive- A clear video (from other angle) of men falling from C-17. They were Clinging to some parts of the plane that took off from Kabul airport today. #Talibans #Afghanistan #Afghanishtan pic.twitter.com/CMNW5ngqrK
— Aśvaka – آسواکا News Agency (@AsvakaNews) August 16, 2021
BREAKING: At least 2 people fall to their death after holding on to a plane as it takes off from Kabul Airport pic.twitter.com/m7XU8lwo5S
— BNO News (@BNONews) August 16, 2021
The Wall Street Journal noted that the Afghan military collapsed because they relied heavily on U.S. air support, and it could not function after Biden pulled U.S. support:
The Afghan army fighting alongside American troops was molded to match the way the Americans operate. The U.S. military, the world’s most advanced, relies heavily on combining ground operations with air power, using aircraft to resupply outposts, strike targets, ferry the wounded, and collect reconnaissance and intelligence.
In the wake of President Biden’s withdrawal decision, the U.S. pulled its air support, intelligence and contractors servicing Afghanistan’s planes and helicopters. That meant the Afghan military simply couldn’t operate anymore. The same happened with another failed American effort, the South Vietnamese army in the 1970s, said retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, who commanded the U.S.-led coalition’s mission to train Afghan forces in 2011-2013.
Biden tried to blame former President Donald Trump in a statement on Saturday for his own actions; however, experts quickly pushed back on Biden’s attempts to deflect blame:
- Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, blasted Biden’s statement: “He begins by listing what his administration is scrambling to do to avoid American and partner deaths, and to have the ability to conduct counterterrorism operations. And this horrible scramble with high stakes is all because of Biden’s order to withdrawal immediately. There is plenty of blame to go around for the failures in Afghanistan, but what happens as a result of the way the withdrawal happened will be Biden’s alone. He can’t pass this off on Trump. He owns all of this. Also, I don’t care if he reads a script word for word, he needs to address the nation. There are a lot of military families who deserve it and so much more.”
- Andrea Stricker, research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD): “The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan fits a pattern of this administration deciding on a course of foreign action without consideration for the ramifications. Biden wanted out regardless of the cost to the Afghan people, regional security, and years of effort and dedication by many brave Americans and allies. This poorly planned exit will go down in history as a major U.S. strategic failure.”
- Jamil N. Jaffer — who serves as Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute and as an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law & Policy Program at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University: “Pathetic for the President to lay the situation he created by his own choices at the feet of his predecessor. Having inherited whatever he inherited, it was his job to do what the nation required, and the President ought admit he made the wrong choice. Be better @JoeBiden.”