The fall of Kabul, three years later.

Civilians were desperate to avoid living under Taliban rule.

The Taliban rolled into the Afghan capital on August 15th, 2021. The scene was like something out a movie, but this wasn’t a film. It was real life. The United States was withdrawing and the Afghan army was unable to continue the fight. Civilians in Afghanistan who feared what life under Taliban control would be like, headed to Kabul International Airport (KIA). Horrific scenes unfolded on an overcrowded runway as desperate civilians clung to the edge of a an American transport plane. We arrived days later on a Qatari C-17. The assignment was to report from the runway and cover the evacuation of civilians. The back of the plane opened and Qatari soldiers exited with weapons raised. In the distance, black smoke rose from the horizon. The faces of the Afghan civilians looked tired and scared. So many parents were desperately trying to get their kids to safety. Lots of American soldiers were trying to keep the groups of people orderly and calm. One soldier shared his MRE with a young child who just played with the bag instead of eating the food. This father described what it was like getting through chaotic crowds outside of the airport. Days later an ISIS-K bomber killed dozens of people and 13 U.S. soldiers in an attack a few hundred feet away.