Originally Posted by aviationist article linked above
However, the MC attempted to fly the MA back to KAF as evidenced by the following MC initiated radio call to Kabul Air Traffic Control (ATC) at 1254:55L: “…Mayday, Mayday, Mayday…it looks like we have an engine failure on both motors, we are proceeding direct to Kandahar at this time…”
Reacting to a complete loss of thrust by attempting recovery to base at Kandahar, a couple of hundred miles away, when they were operating well inside gliding range of Kabul and Bagram suggests such a degree of unthinking panic by the crew that it’s easy to picture how the wrong engine got shut down.