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US Army Apache helicopters being used to herd crowds off runway
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country with four vehicles and a helicopter full of cash, the Russian embassy in Kabul said Monday. The embattled leader left the presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday to the insurgent Taliban fighters who had toppled his government. “To avoid bloodshed, I thought it would be better to leave,” Ghani, 72, said on Facebook in his first comments after his departure. The former World Bank academic — who holds a doctorate from New York City’s Columbia University — didn’t say where he was going, but Al Jazeera reported later that he had flown to Uzbekistan. “As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterized by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” Nikita Ishchenko, a Russian embassy spokesman in Kabul, was quoted as saying by Russian state-owned news outlet RIA, Reuters reported. “Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” Ishchenko was quoted as saying. https://nypost.com/2021/08/16/afghan...-money-russia/ Must have been his pension pot :rolleyes: |
Originally Posted by Bob Viking
(Post 11095853)
What strikes me the most about the first video you posted is how the people trying to board that aircraft seem to be almost exclusively young and healthy males.
You may infer what you wish from what I have said. BV |
Perhaps young healthy males can beat old men, women and children to the head of a queue?
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Dire situation unfolding at Kabul Airport right now - totally avoidable if Biden hadn't ordered abandonment of Bagram with all the Force Protection in place in the middle of the night a few weeks ago.
Kabul Airport now overrun by civilians and operations have been suspended. At least one person has died after clinging to a C-17A as it took off. Reportedly, around 800 people were allowed to get in a single C-17A yesterday (accordingly to comms monitoring). |
Wall-to-wall coverage on TV now in the USA for 3 days and Biden still in hiding - just announced he will be speaking this pm at 1545 EST rather than "in a few days" or "when the time is right" stated yesterday
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Went for morning stroll around sunny and wet Suffolk to see no less than x 8 Extenders on deck followed whch arived through the night, Rumor mill from the enthusiasts spotters community suggests they could be supporting Buff deployment (?). Apparently there were no less than x 4 white tops over the weekend (has not happened in a while) including this smoke belching legend (my photo of it lifting off a week ago) Constant Phoenix.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1bd35ad0be.jpg Also there are or were 24 C-17A into the Eifel region. cheers |
Overhead imagery of Kabul Airport
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Originally Posted by NutLoose
(Post 11096102)
Also no surprise here; Imran Kahn swooning over the Taliban. On Monday (August 16), Pakistan PM Imran Khan extended his support to the radical Islamist outfit Taliban, following their takeover of power in neighbouring Afghanistan. During the launch of the ‘Single National Curriculum’ in Islamabad, he justified the Taliban’s actions by claiming that the Afghan population had broken the ‘chains of slavery’. He also remarked that ‘cultural imposition’ (by the United States) was tantamount to ‘mental slavery.’ --snip a bit-- In 2012 he had even said that Taliban’s ‘holy war’ in Afghanistan is justified by Islamic law while visiting the hospital where Malala Yusufzai was treated a week prior. Malala, then a schoolgirl, was shot in the head by the Taliban in Swat valley of Pakistan in October 2012 for writing against the atrocities of Taliban in Swat Valley of Pakistan. Imran Khan has proved time and again that he is a terrorist sympathiser. My own experiences with Pakistan as "allies" as regards ops in Afghanistan (in the regions closest to Pakistan) are a bit dated (early 00's). Those those experiences taught me that Pakistan as an ally of convenience was a case of geographical necessity, not of mutually shared interests. They were a part of the problem, not a part of the solution. Saw a brief bit on TV last night about China recognizing the Taliban; a practical response.
Originally Posted by tartare
(Post 11095985)
There's a Spooky en-route to Kabul as we speak...
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I watched "Greenland" the other day. End of the world type disaster film that concentrates on the people more than the actual disaster. Good film, by the way.
Scenes in it are scarily similar to what has been seen at Kabul over the last couple of days with security breaking down and the airside overrun with people desperate to get on a plane. This kind of thing shouldn't be happening in real life, I feel for those that are so desperate to get out they will cling to the outside of a military aircraft, and for the military personal who are "just doing their job" under such awful and terrifying circumstances. I can only hope that the evacuation is allowed to proceed safely and swiftly. |
Comms from USAF C-17A RCH871 with 800+ PAX on board yesterday
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Reports of US "firing in the air" are interesting.
As a military historian of small merit, my understanding of British protocols is/ was that such a thing was not to be contemplated. Transfer of control by civil power to senior army officer, mob ordered to disperse or we fire, mob fails to disperse, officer orders nominated soldiers to kill nominated targets. Is this no longer doctrine? Firing in the air teaches the mob that bangs kill nobody. I wonder where our 600 Paras are ......... no mention anywhere that I have seen. |
Langley, There are vids of dead people on the ground around one of the stands and saying the US military did it.
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Originally Posted by langleybaston
(Post 11096177)
Reports of US "firing in the air" are interesting.
As a military historian of small merit, my understanding of British protocols is/ was that such a thing was not to be contemplated. Transfer of control by civil power to senior army officer, mob ordered to disperse or we fire, mob fails to disperse, officer orders nominated soldiers to kill nominated targets. Is this no longer doctrine? Firing in the air teaches the mob that bangs kill nobody. I wonder where our 600 Paras are ......... no mention anywhere that I have seen. |
Twitter can be the worst sewer of the internet, but sometimes it offers incredible insights. Like this from the (former) governor of Afghanistan's central bank on his perspective of the government's collapse, the competence of its leadership, and his personal experience of escaping by air.
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Originally Posted by langleybaston
(Post 11096177)
Reports of US "firing in the air" are interesting.
As a military historian of small merit, my understanding of British protocols is/ was that such a thing was not to be contemplated. Transfer of control by civil power to senior army officer, mob ordered to disperse or we fire, mob fails to disperse, officer orders nominated soldiers to kill nominated targets. Is this no longer doctrine? Firing in the air teaches the mob that bangs kill nobody. I wonder where our 600 Paras are ......... no mention anywhere that I have seen. |
Originally Posted by NutLoose
(Post 11095999)
I am surprised these days the likes of the captured Humvees do not have a kill chip in them that can remotely disable them for good.
Biden recently said the Afghani army was one of the best equipped in the world. It still is, except now it's the Taliban Afghani army... I see the US military commanders were quick to throw Biden and company under the bus - saying they warned of this happening but were ignored. |
Originally Posted by NutLoose
(Post 11095999)
I am surprised these days the likes of the captured Humvees do not have a kill chip in them that can remotely disable them for good.
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Why?
the US is already toying with using microwaves to disable vehicle engines, so why not have a built in system. …https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...icrowave-beams . |
Originally Posted by Mr N Nimrod
(Post 11096218)
maybe stick to guessing what the weather will be tomorrow, cos I’m certainly glad you were never giving the orders
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