Officers, citing an investigation by the Air Power Workplace of Particular Investigations, referred to as the incident a “tragic occasion.”
The grisly discovery occurred at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Aug. 16 after the crew struggled to shut the aircraft’s touchdown gear and declared an in-flight emergency, U.S. navy officers stated on the time. It was first reported by The Washington Publish.
A day prior, Taliban fighters had swept into Afghanistan’s capital, finishing a conquest 20 years within the making and setting off a surreal scene at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport.
Hordes of Afghan civilians, determined to flee the incoming regime, descended on Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport, pushing previous boundaries and pouring onto the flight line in a determined, futile bid to chase down the hulking navy plane. Video footage captured in the course of the chaos confirmed folks climbing onto the surface of taxiing planes.
U.S. navy officers at a number of ranges reviewed the Air Power investigation and decided the C-17 crew “was in compliance with relevant guidelines of engagement particular to the occasion and the general regulation of armed battle,” stated Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the service. Commanders decided the crew “acted appropriately” in deciding “to get airborne as rapidly as attainable,” she stated.
America had withdrawn almost all navy personnel from Afghanistan on the time of the Taliban’s takeover, however rapidly dispatched 1000’s to Kabul to pluck Americans and Afghan allies from the surging crowds. Over the following two weeks, greater than 75,000 folks had been evacuated, though a number of thousand Afghans had been left behind.
The operation, although heralded by the Biden administration as a hit, was beset by one misfortune after the following. Afghans fell to their deaths from a minimum of two U.S. navy planes moments after takeoff. It was unclear Monday whether or not the Air Power additionally has cleared these crews of wrongdoing, and the Pentagon has not launched any documentation related to that investigation.
Later, a suicide bomber killed almost 200 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops within the crush of individuals outdoors the airport. In response, U.S. forces performed a drone strike that, upon overview, mistakenly focused an Afghan man who labored for a U.S. help group, killing him and several other relations. No U.S. personnel had been disciplined because of that incident both.
After 1000’s of Afghans overran the airport on Aug. 16, U.S. troops tried to clear runways utilizing low-flying helicopters. Commanders briefly paused evacuation flights till they wrested again management.
U.S. navy personnel, in an investigation launched to The Washington Publish by the Freedom of Data Act, likened the state of affairs to “Lord of the Flies,” a novel during which stranded youngsters should govern themselves. U.S. Marines got here beneath fireplace contained in the airport on the outset of the evacuation by what they perceived to be Taliban fighters. They returned fired, killing two, service members concerned recalled.
4 Afghans had been crushed to loss of life on the airport throughout the first 4 days of the disaster, and U.S. troops remained involved all through the evacuation that crowds might break open a gate and riot, they informed investigators. A Marine officer reported a stun grenade used for crowd management had killed a civilian.
Brig. Gen. Farrell Sullivan, who oversaw Marines on the airport, informed investigators that the operation is more likely to have an enduring affect on these concerned.
“I’m not notably tender, as adversity comes with our duties,” he stated, “however this was a particularly difficult state of affairs.”
