Say what you will about the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan; the evacuation effort going on right now is seriously impressive. Fire up a flight tracker, and look at the non-stop parade of transport aircraft going in and out of Kabul. Then consider all of the support on the ground and in the air you don't see.
The planning, coordination, and execution required to do this is just tremendous. The people making it happen deserve our recognition and respect.
Just looking at my flight tracking app, in the Gulf of Oman, Pakistan, or Afghanistan at this moment I count six C-17A, two KC-130, and two C130J. That's just what I get from clicking around the area; there are probably many others en route to or from Kabul.
^ That should have been KC-135R; not KC-130.
@voltronic
Other than getting any US citizens out, not sure it could have really gone otherwise. The US doesn't want refugees and has been stonewalling the Iraqi translators for a decade. If we waited to withdraw until they'd been "processed," we'd be there forever.
@AlphaCentauri
Ok, but the WAY they did the withdrawal was not good.
@voltronic
But I'm kind of thinking it's been ten years of the generals telling the White House, "we can't leave until we can get our translators visas," But they were never going to get US visas, even before the Muslim ban or the pandemic travel restrictions. Too many people were making money on the status quo.
@voltronic The Civil Reserve Air Fleet's been called in. There will be 18 civilian airliners in there by this time tomorrow. They're going to need every last one they can get in there.
@sjvn
That's far fewer than I expected.
@voltronic I'm told it's taking time to get the admin side worked out. I expect more will be coming. A lot depends on if the August 31 deadline gets extended.
@sjvn
Well fine just said that he sticking with August 31.
And he wants contingency plans.
Pre-empting anyone who would jump in and say "well, it shouldn't have been necessary in the first place."
Acknowledged, but that's beside the point of my post.