Aug. 17—Hawaii-based Air Force C-17 cargo carriers and KC-135 refueling tankers could be called upon to help with the daunting international task of helping evacuate by air tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan citizens from an overwhelmed Kabul airport following the country's rapid fall to the Taliban.
Sue Gough, a spokeswoman at the Pentagon, said Monday, "We aren't commenting on which specific units are supporting this airlift operation." Another official said a request has gone out to all Air National Guard units across the country to see which can help with airlift. Civilian and other nations' aircraft also will be used in the scramble to get people out.
The Hawaii Air National Guard and active-duty Air Force share flying and maintenance duties on C-17 Globemaster IIIs and KC-135 Stratotankers at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
DefenseOne.com reported that a C-17 with the 436th Air Wing, based at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, safely evacuated some 640 Afghans from Kabul late Sunday on a single flight.
The Hawaii Air Guard's 535th Airlift Squadron evacuated more than 670 Tacloban residents on a single C-17 flight to Manila following Typhoon Haiyan's destruction in the Philippines in 2013, according to the Air Force.
The Hawaii-based aircraft regularly fly missions all over the world. In late 2017 three Hawaii Air Guard KC-135 tankers and crews with the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron returned from six months of Middle East duty refueling U.S. and other coalition aircraft striking ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.
President Joe Biden addressed the issue of America's pullout and the Taliban's takeover in a speech Monday. "Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, " he said.
American troops "cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves, " Biden said. "We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300, 000 strong—incredibly well equipped."
U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele said Sunday he was "deeply concerned over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and the crisis unfolding in the capital city of Kabul."
About 2, 500 U.S. troops were at the overwhelmed Kabul airport Monday, with about 6, 000 total expected to be there within two to three days to defend the final pullout.
Disturbing video emerged of hundreds of Afghans running around and ahead of an Air Force C-17 jet as it taxied for takeoff at Kabul airport. Some were seen climbing onto covered landing-gear sections of the big plane.
Eyewitness reports said two to three men fell off the C-17 as it became airborne. U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters were seen flying low to try to clear large groups of people off the runway.
"Decisions made by previous and current administrations have put the United States in a calamitous situation and swift, decisive decisions must be made immediately, " Kahele said in a release. "Now is not the time to point fingers and find blame ; instead, we must be unified in immediate solutions to evacuate American citizens and our Afghan allies and ensure their safety."
Kahele, a Hawaii Democrat from Hilo, said that as a Hawaii Air National Guardsman and C-17 pilot who was deployed to Afghanistan multiple times in support of air mobility operations, including aeromedical evacuation operations, "I believe that we must immediately initiate noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO ) through United States Transportation Command, " including "activating all available air mobility assets worldwide necessary to evacuate all American civilians and Afghan allies immediately."
He also said the Air Force needed to deploy a "robust tanker airlift control element (TALCE ) to provide the operational mission support elements to safely and effectively execute this monumental no-notice air evacuation."
Kahele urged the administration to "airlift our Afghan partners, their families and those who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV ) to the United States Pacific Territory of Guam as was suggested two months ago. The United States must provide a path for safety for those who worked alongside our troops."
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday that there were 2, 500 U.S. troops at the airport, with the 3rd Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division, which was previously headed to Kuwait, expected to arrive shortly.
Within several days the total U.S. force at the airport, which includes Marines, is expected to total about 6, 000, he said.
The Defense Department indicated it could fly out 5, 000 or more people per day "on literally a couple dozen or more sorties per day, " Kirby said.
In a joint statement Sunday, the State and Defense departments said that in coming days "we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens " as well as "particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals."
At least 2, 000 Afghans eligible for U.S. Special Immigrant Visas have already arrived in the United States. Army Maj. Gen. Henry "Hank " Taylor, Joint Staff director of current operations, told reporters Monday that Hamid Karzai International Airport had reopened for operations. Shortly after, a C-17 aircraft landed with Marines on board. Another C-17 was preparing to land with 82nd Airborne soldiers, he said.
Garry Reid, director of the Defense Department's Afghanistan crisis action group, said U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Army North were providing arriving SIV applicants with housing, food and medical treatment mostly at Fort Lee, Va.
Officials "are working to create additional capacity to support refugee relocation in the (United States ), including at temporary sites, " Reed said. Fort Bliss, Texas, and Camp McCoy in Wisconsin are under assessment, and other sites may be identified for 20, 000 to 22, 000 placements, he said.
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