Airpower rapidly achieved America’s goals in the Afghanistan War 20 years ago, but a change in the mission led inexorably to this week’s chaotic exit, Air Force Association leaders said Aug. 17. The situation should teach lessons about how best to use American power in ...
National Security
Nine C-17s flowed into Kabul overnight after the international airport opened, carrying in more U.S. troops for security and conducting evacuations of American, Afghan, and other third-country people following a chaotic day at the last U.S.-controlled position in Afghanistan. Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said ...
The Defense and State Departments are planning to fly thousands more Afghans out of the country in the coming days, even as disturbing images of Afghans desperately attempting to board U.S. aircraft and flee the Taliban spread across social media Aug. 16. The Defense Department ...
As C-17s and C-130s lofted thousands of Americans and Afghan nationals fleeing from Kabul International Airport, Air Force Special Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. James C. "Jim" Slife articulated many of the mixed reactions of the tens of thousands of American service men and women ...
Military flight operations at Kabul’s airport resumed Aug. 16 after a period of chaos halted flights. Images and videos circulating online showed desperate Afghans mobbing U.S. Air Force C-17s as they took off to evacuate Americans and others, as the Taliban reclaimed control of the ...
The first airplanes were powered by piston engines turning propellers, and when gas turbine engines emerged decades later, they quickly proved able to propel aircraft higher, further, and faster. The cycle repeated itself with the turbofan in the 1960s and ’70s. Yet as dazzling as ...
U.S. and coalition air crews rushed to evacuate personnel from Kabul as the Taliban entered the Afghan capital Aug. 15, completing the group's rapid takeover of the country and forcing the now former president into exile. USAF airlifters, along with those of other NATO nations, ...
The Air Force will deploy enough aircraft to ferry out “thousands per day” from Kabul as the American diplomatic presence draws down and more Afghan interpreters are brought out of the country, the Pentagon said Aug. 13. The first of approximately 3,000 troops deploying to ...
With Afghan provincial capitals falling like dominoes in recent days, the Pentagon is still resisting pressure to promise air support to Afghanistan after the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline. Countries in the region, however, may be key to providing the over-the-horizon support needed to turn the ...