Cellphones are everywhere. We can see things as they happen, sometimes gut-wrenching portraits of human suffering fall into this category. I recently watched HBO’s documentary Escape from Kabul (2022). Before I get going I want to give you this…
DISCLAIMER: The following article may not be easy to read. There will be descriptions of violence against women and children. My aim is not to be gratuitous and dance while being covered with blood. I want to try and paint (i.e. review) this film as honestly as I can without skimping on some details. Oh…I should mention that there will be spoilers strewn everywhere.
Brief summary
Some of you may be aware that the Trump struck a peace deal with Afghanistan back in February 2020 (see my list of sources at the bottom of the article for more details). Since the Obama administration the U.S.A. had slowly been losing it’s control of the country. In another PBS documentary I saw there was an estimate that in 2019 the Taliban controlled 80% of the land.
Long story short…the U.S. had to get as many people out (of the airport) with as little bloodshed as possible. This documentary shows events, less than two years ago, that happened at the Kabul airport. Things didn’t go according to plan.
No one wins
If you’re watching this hoping for either the Taliban, or the Americans to be victorious…you’re gonna be disappointed. On August 15, 2021 the Taliban officially take over the country. On the same day many of the top government officials in Afghanistan were flown out of the country and given the VIP treatment isn’t that nice?
On the next day the floodgates open…
People are terrified of the Taliban and flock in droves to the airport. The Americans have a skeleton crew to begin with, so managing the sheer waves of desperate people is nearly impossible without some aggressive measures. What happens next comes from a result of desperation mixed with sheer terror.
There are so many people swarming the airport that the biggest concern of the military is that the airfield will be over run and planes will be unable to takeoff. They cope with this by flying a helicopter very low to the ground to push people back. Dunno about you…but I’m not in the business of taking a helicopter blade to the head before I jump on a plane.
This story blew up on the news media. In 2021 you probably saw that infamous C-17 cargo plane trying to take off while people were clinging to the outside of the plane. Yes, you heard me. Most of them did not let go once the wheels left the ground. In the film you see bodies falling off the plane while it’s in flight. Other people were run over on the airstrip because they didn’t get out of the way in time.
Here’s a direct quote from a Washington Post article about a young dentist on Aug 16. (The full article can be found at the bottom under my list of sources.)
Desperation drove some people to cling to the wings of airplanes as they took off. Fada Mohammad, a young dentist, fell to his death on Aug. 16. His remains were found on a rooftop four miles from the airport. A teenage soccer player also died after plummeting from a U.S. aircraft.
The scale of suffering
It’s hard to put into words because it’s so divorced from reality. Many people were crammed like sardines waiting to get into the gates. They waited 4-5 days in the sweltering heat, with no food and little water.
Here are some examples of the casualties:
- People were trampled to death (this includes children and infants)
- Many died of heat exhaustion.
- Near Abbey Gate people stood in a canal of sewage for days. (if you stood in it, it would go up to the middle of your chest).
- Afghans were shot with rubber bullets from shot guns and other riot gear.
- Afghan Special Forces shot and killed civilians to clear the airstrip.
- Hundreds were cut up by razor wire that was used to control the crowd. (I remember watching a kid – no more than 11 years old – grab onto it like the last tree branch at the edge of the cliff.)
- Mothers gave their children away to U.S. troops.
I would like to say that was all the suffering that happened. Nope. A few days later on Aug 26, a bomb goes off…
During the panic to try and get people organized and processed before the deadline (Aug 31), another group of militants had time to observe and disrupt things. A group called ISK (Islamic State-Khorasan) claimed responsibility for the attack. They were the Islamic State’s arm in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If that name draws a blank in your mind, they are fueled by similar ideologies as ISIS. Oh yeah…the former is also called ISIS-K. Should’ve mentioned that earlier but now it’s too late so you’re just gonna have to live with it…mmmkay?
The bomb killed more than 170 people at the airports perimeter along with 13 American troops.
The good, the bad and the convenient
There is a silver lining to this tragedy. The end result was over 122,000 people were airlifted abroad. The whole event left me with a bag of worms of feelings. So much suffering to rescue a fraction of those people. That’s about all the good I can get out of it. Wait a second, there’s one other thing…
This documentary uses a wide range of interviews. I’ve gotta tip my hat to the filmmakers that chose to interview the U.S. military, several members of the Taliban, civilians who endured those conditions and escaped and others who did not. I’ve spoken about a lot of the bad. So much so that I’m craving a cigarette way more than I should. So I’m gonna start to wrap up this article but talking about the convenient. By that I mean a few facts that the film either left out or got wrong.
I’d like to preface this next part and say that I do recommend the film for whose who are able to endure it. I suffer from curiosity and I went and did more late night googling on the topic. They’re in a numbered order because I like numbers. They make me look official.
- The Americans were not the only troops at the airport
- Only the film doesn’t directly say there were only Americans present. Through the interviews of various military one can be fooled into thinking that the Americans were the heroes. There were actually 37 other countries assisting during this process. (See the wikipedia article link in my list of sources.)
- The Taliban sprayed bullets in the crowd to control them.
- This I read on an IMDB review. I can’t verify it 100%, but on the other hand I can’t dispute it either.
- The airport ran more efficiently after the U.S. withdrawal.
- This comes from another IMDB reviewer who says they live in Afghanistan. Once again I cannot verify it’s authenticity.
- There were still Americans in Afghanistan after August 31, 2021
- There are a number of news articles that confirm this. You will have to do your own digging if you don’t believe me.
- Aug 29, a US drone strike kills 10 civilians.
- Did I hear you cringe when you read this one? It’s pretty hard to paint Americans as heroes when they screw up an operation. Their intel said this was a car of explosives sent by their ISK buddies. Nope. Wrong again. 10 civilians including small children kinda wrong.
Final thoughts
- Don’t watch this late at night before bed. Trust me.
- If you’re anything like me this film will live inside you for several hours afterwards.
- Is the film flawed? At times. Just don’t shoot the messenger before you have time to appreciate the message.
- Religious extremism isn’t going away anytime soon.
- I still need that goddam cigarette once I’ve finished writing this.
- Feedback and comments are welcome.
- I hope I’ve made enough sense to interest you in this film.
PhilosopherPoet
Sources
- Trump peace deal
- Epoch Times review
- Kabul airport timeline
- Kabul airlift – wikipedia
- 18 essential docs on Afghanistan and the Taliban
- Escape from Kabul review
- AP news article
- Politico news article
- Al Jazeera – In pictures
Image credits
The following are in order of appearance: