Washington defends non-combatant evacuation operation in Afghanistan

US military forces struggled to clear civilians off the runway at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on 16 August so that it could resume flights, while also conceding that its mission in the Central Asian nation is now a non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO).

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby briefed reporters twice about the deteriorating situation inside Afghanistan that included Taliban fighters entering the capital city the previous day and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country. The fast pace of events even had Kirby acknowledging that the US military was involved in an NEO, a designation he had denied just four days earlier.

As of midday in Washington, the US military had surged its troop numbers up to 2,500 (up from 650 the previous week) inside the country to assist with the evacuation of diplomats and Afghan special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants. Over the coming days, the intent is to have a total of 6,000 US troops there, said Kirby.

Members of the Taliban patrol the streets of Kabul on 16 August after the Afghan capital fell to the group the previous day. (Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

However, incidents of Afghans desperately trying to flee the country by clinging to military planes preparing to take off and crowding the runway forced the grounding of all flights into and out of the airport for a period of time.

“I don't want to make a prediction, or put a stake in the ground, in terms of a certain hour of the day, but we do anticipate that air operations will resume and that we'll be able to get the remaining flowing forces into the airport,” Kirby told reporters.