The images of August 16 on the tarmac of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport are by now seared into humanity’s memory, Afghan citize...
The images of August 16 on the tarmac of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport are by now seared into humanity’s memory, Afghan citizens invading the airport precincts for air evacuation, clinging to air-bridge stairs, chasing aircraft on the runaway and – most heartbreaking of all – riding the wheel covers of a military jet transport even as it revs up for take-off.
The images showed the desperation of the Afghan public as the Taliban made its second coming, with the memories of atrocities of 20 years ago as fresh as yesterday. The suddenness of Kabul’s fall, the cut-and-run policy of the United States, and nervous opportunism of neighbouring countries in this part of High Asia made for dramatically heightened world interest on Afghanistan – all of this against the hope that the “talibs” would act more humanely this time around, also given that the Afghan citizenry and polity is vastly transformed since 2000.
In the rush of events making the news, one must stop press and study the tragedy present in the series of smartphone video clips available in the public domain, showing young Afghans riding the wheel pod of a C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift transport of the US Air Force, to their doom....
