Lucas Tomlinson with Fox News reports on how the US military evacuation flights are going in Kabul right now, and it doesn’t sound good:
U.S. Air Force C-17 evacuation flights leaving Kabul airport nearly half empty: Pentagon
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 19, 2021
You’d think in an emergency situation like this, you would have half-empty planes.
Now to be fair, I’m not sure if ‘half-empty’ is a comparison of the 640 that flew out this past weekend or if he means half-empty based on the actual capacity.
He also tweeted this:
.@StateDeptSpox says there are 6,000 people at the airport in Kabul who have been “fully processed by our consular team and will soon board planes.” They expect 20 flights to depart tonight
— Jennifer Hansler (@jmhansler) August 19, 2021
At 300 per flight that's max capacity for an Air Force c-17 transport plane, Pentagon says (The 640 packed in Sunday was an exception, officials say.) https://t.co/HAgBVqbZL7
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 19, 2021
Ok I guess that’s not the worst news assuming it happens. If the US can get 6,000 people out of Kabul in one night, even if it does take 20 or more flights, that’s very much needed.
But the question is how many more Americans are trapped in their homes, unable to get to the airport, because it’s too dangerous and the US can’t support them until they actually get to the airport? They have been reporting as many as 15,000 Americans in Kabul.
And what about the rest of the country where there are reported to be tens of thousands more?