Source: Guardian
The government has announced that the long-awaited Afghan citizens resettlement scheme will start in January 2022.
The programme will provide support for up to 20,000 Afghans, prioritising women, children and others at risk.
Tag Archives: 2021 Kabul Airlift
The Year Kabul Fell Again
Source: Foreignpolicy.com
On Aug. 15, the Taliban arrived at the gates of Kabul. By the evening, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his vice president had fled the country, and the militant group had seized the presidential palace. In just 10 days, the Taliban had gone from taking their first provincial capital to preparing to declare a new Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan. The final U.S. plane would depart from Kabul later that month to a chorus of celebratory Taliban gunfire, marking an end to Washington’s so-called forever war.
Afghanistan’s brutal year: the return of the Taliban
Source: Euronews
It was a year of turmoil for Afghanistan and its people. From the Western withdrawal and evacuation to the Taliban’s seizure of power – a look back at the tumultuous events of 2021.
The End of the Afghanistan War Was Even Worse Than Anyone Realized
Source: Slate.com
It is now widely conceded that America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, the longest in our history, was a tragic bungle of monumental proportions. However, we are just beginning to learn that the final phase of the war—not so much the frantic evacuation but the entire last three years, as we tiptoed toward the exits—was disgraceful in its own appalling way.
Foreign Office chaotic during Kabul evacuation – whistleblower
Source: BBC
The UK Foreign Office’s handling of the Afghan evacuation after the Taliban seized Kabul was dysfunctional and chaotic, a whistleblower has said.
Raphael Marshall said the process of choosing who could get a flight out was arbitrary and thousands of emails with pleas for help went unread.
The Secret History of the U.S. Diplomatic Failure in Afghanistan
Source: The New Yorker
On April 14th, President Joe Biden ended the longest war in United States history, announcing that the last remaining American troops in Afghanistan would leave by September 11th. In the following weeks, the Taliban conquered dozens of rural districts and closed in on major cities. By mid-June, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan—the brittle democratic state built by Afghan modernizers, NATO soldiers, and American taxpayers after the 9/11 attacks—appeared to be in a death spiral. Yet its President, Ashraf Ghani, insisted to his cabinet that the Republic would endure. In every meeting, “he assured us, and encouraged us,” Rangina Hamidi, the acting minister of education, said. Ghani reminded them, “America didn’t make a promise that they would be here forever.”
Whistleblower condemns Foreign Office over Kabul evacuation
Source: The Guardian
Tens of thousands of Afghans were unable to access UK help following the fall of Kabul because of turmoil and confusion in the Foreign Office, according to a devastating account by a whistleblower.
Baby handed to US soldiers in chaos of Afghan airlift missing
Source: Al Jazeera
It was a split-second decision. Mirza Ali Ahmadi and his wife Suraya found themselves and their five children on August 19 in a chaotic crowd outside the gates of the Kabul airport in Afghanistan when a US soldier, from over the tall fence, asked if they needed help.
‘Honest mistake’: US strike that killed Afghan civilians was legal – Pentagon
Source: The Guardian
A Pentagon investigation that found a drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 Afghan civilians was an “honest mistake” and recommended no legal or disciplinary action has been met with widespread outrage from Congress and human rights groups.
Over 40% of Afghan refugees at US bases are children, Pentagon says
Source: CNN
44% of Afghan refugees housed temporarily at eight US military bases are children, according to a letter from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
34% of the refugee population at the bases are adult men, and 22% are adult women, the letter which is dated October 8 states.