HKIA related updates
1. Unrelated to the above news, last night 77 SAF personnel, comprising pilots, aircrew, engineers and Singapore Army security personnel, flew off on A330MRTT 762 to Al Udeid Air Base, in Qatar, for this humanitarian mission as Singapore’s contribution to the effort.
(a) The SAF team deployed shortly after PM Lee’s offer during Vice President Kamala Harris visit to the Istana on 23 Aug 2021. Singapore’s A330 MRTT is likely to be used to fly the Qatar to Germany leg of the evacuation mission. IIRC an agreement with the German government allows Afghans to stay on a German base for only 10 days after their arrival.
(b) The MRTT, which can carry up to 266 passengers or 37,000kg of cargo, or conduct medical evacuation. This is deployment to Qatar is the second operational mission for the A330 MRTT, as it was previously used to evacuate Private Joshua Quek Shou Jie, a commando trainee, who was injured in Taiwan during an unilateral parachute exercise in Jan 2020.
The head of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan says 12 U.S. service members were killed in the suicide attack outside the Kabul airport. 15 others were wounded.
2. Since Gen. McKenzie’s briefing, there are
13 KIAs from the US military and the Khorasan group, affiliated with the Islamic State (ISK), was responsible. There may be more given the condition of the wounded.
3. Having watched the behaviour of a Fox News reporter at a Q&A with Biden, in the aftermath of this latest ISK terror attack, I have utter contempt for his attempt to sow confusion — despite Biden’s tolerance/acceptance that the Fox News guy will continue to behave this way.
4. After the terror attack on US forces in Afghanistan, Rep. Madison Cawthorn R-NC is asking for the 25th Amendment to be invoked to remove President Biden from office. In this letter, Cawthorn wrongly spells the Vice President's first name. The letter – which devotes an entire paragraph to a passage from Treasure Island – is the latest in a series of calls from Republicans in Congress for Biden's ouster. "It's not a day for politics," the White House said of those calls.
5. American intelligence already warned of a high likelihood of attack. Anyone with basic common sense would know that asking the military to screen over 100,000 evacuees for Kabul at one location (HKIA) not only carries risk of attack at the point of entry.
(a) Being forced to only watch the gates, without control of the outer perimeter (being manned by the Taliban) makes it that much hard to mitigate the risk of an ISK terror attack, which is INTENDED to blend into the crowd.
(b) I am pretty sure the terror cell in Kabul is planning to stage a second attack — the next attack need NOT be a direct attack at the gates alone. The Americans have armed overwatch but these UAVs can do next to nothing when the bomber has blended into the crowd.
(c) As part of “Aquila Omnia”, the Italian Air Force deployed 4 C-130Js to transport personnel from Kabul to Kuwait, where 3 KC-767A tankers then fly the evacuees to Italy. In continuous operations without a break, over are 1,600 are evacuated, so far. On 26 Aug 2021, an Afghan pickup equipped with machine guns and located away from the runway, fired a few 14.5 caliber machine gun shots straight up to disperse the crowd pressing towards the gate of the Kabul International Airport. Tracers coming from the ground were spotted by the pilot of the Italian C-130J (flying at 4,000 feet) who, according to the procedures, carried out the evasive maneuvers that scared all the passengers. This shows that security of the gates is not enough, without extensive cooperation by the Taliban to reduce the ISK threat.
6. I believe that extending the duration of the evacuation mission beyond 31 Aug 2021, presents an unacceptable risk to American aircraft and servicemen (deployed in such a static installation defence).
7. A united America is a safer country but what the Fox News reporter and Rep. Madison Cawthorn are trying to do, helps the agenda of ISK — therefore I can’t respect that. No matter who is the American President, elected members of Congress, should unite behind the President to speak against terrorism (for at least a few days) — cheap partisanship stunts will empower ISIS.
ISIS-K also denounced the Taliban for working alongside the US, a move likely aimed at undermining the Taliban's jihadi credentials.
8. Both American and Afghan lives matter. Since the Taliban cannot stop further ISK attacks at HKIA, evacuation flights better stop soon. The Taliban are even less competent at security operations than the prior Kabul regime. ISK is also attacking areas other than the airport. Sources say that there are 6 to 7 explosions in Kabul last evening and an ongoing gun battle in the west of the city. This is a very dynamic situation, ISIS engaged in a persistent flood of attacks.
