More than 53,000 Afghan evacuees remain at eight military bases throughout the continental U.S., but despite the resources needed to support that population, the military’s readiness has not been adversely affected, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said Oct. 25. Kirby did acknowledge the time ...
Afghans fleeing the Taliban in August concealed medical conditions ranging from battlefield wounds to high-risk pregnancies out of fear that doing so might cause U.S. military members to bar them from escaping Kabul. In response, Air Mobility Command provided medics and nurses, turning transports into ...
U.S. Transportation Command is already conducting an after-action report of the Noncombatant Evacuation Operation that flew more than 124,000 Afghan refugees, third-country nationals, and Americans from Kabul to safety in August to identify lessons learned, said the command's director of operations, Maj. Gen. Corey J. ...
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Oct. 4 and said the following day that after two decades in Afghanistan, NATO will redirect its resources to defense of its 30 member countries. That will ...
In the wake of the massive Afghanistan airlift operation, Air Mobility Command is surging its use of C-5s in order to give its C-17 aircraft and crews a break, officials said Sept. 20 at AFA's Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Sept. 13 and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 14, testifying for nearly a combined nine hours about the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan that ended with scenes of chaos in ...
Capping his Gulf state tour in Kuwait, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III visited Marines present during the Aug. 26 Kabul airport attack and warned that Al-Qaida may emerge in the chaos now enveloping Afghanistan. “The whole community is kind of watching to see what ...
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken joined their counterparts in Qatar on Sept. 7 to acknowledge the transit and care of 58,000 evacuees from Afghanistan and to give a nod to the country’s strategic role in countering Iran ...
President Joe Biden spoke to the American people Aug. 31, one day after the final military flight left Kabul, to say that some 200 Americans remained in Afghanistan but that the military mission had ended and “over-the-horizon” capabilities will now fight terrorism in the country. ...
The final U.S. Air Force C-17 has cleared Afghanistan airspace, completing the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan and marking the end of nearly 20 years of war, U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. announced Aug. 30.
The threat of another Islamic State-Khorasan attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and on U.S. troops based there remains high, but Pentagon leaders say there is “still time” to evacuate remaining Americans before a self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline. The U.S. struck an ...
The U.S. airlift mission in Afghanistan is continuing, following one of the deadliest attacks on American forces in the 20-year war. “These American service members who gave their lives … were heroes. Heroes who have been engaged in the dangerous, selfless mission to save the ...