Originally Posted by
Ninthace
It’s a conundrum. In some ways, getting the Taliban to take charge of the airport seems the better option. A chance for them to show they are in authority and if any civilians got hurt in the process it would be down to them, they have fewer compunctions in this regard. I see some snags though. There are probably a lot of people on the airfield that they have an interest in and they might want a say in who goes and stays as part of the deal, and they might want “departure fees”
Using own forces keeps control in “allied” hands but there may be a price. If crowd pressure mounts as we saw in the clips of the C-17 trying to taxi, there will come a point where shots will be fired which will not play well in the media. Perhaps now would be a good time to buy shares in razor wire?
Still, enough armchair strategy, I am sure “they” have a plan.
Which seems strange that they decided to pull out of Bagram beforehand, as surely that would have been an easier option to defend to the final pullout than what is a civilian airport closer to the urban districts......but I suppose this just highlights the US gross miss-calculation of likely events timeline...?