Britain's RAF says 'extraordinary effort' of Kabul airlifts is nearly over

Record ID: 1634099

  • Title: Britain's RAF says 'extraordinary effort' of Kabul airlifts is nearly over
  • Date: 29th August 2021
  • Summary: RAF BRIZE NORTON, OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, UK (AUGUST 29, 2021) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF AIRCRAFT CARRYING MILITARY HARDWARE FROM AFGHANISTAN TAXIING SIGN ON TARMAC READING (English): "AIRCRAFT ARMED" CREW DISEMBARKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL AIRFORCE OPERATIONAL DEPUTY COMMANDER, GERRY MAYHEW, SAYING: "We have had two weeks of extraordinary effort from Brize Norton and the whole of Royal Air Force, working with their partners across the defence and across government and the vast majority of the operation is now complete. So it's about bringing people home, having got out of Kabul, it's now bringing them home from the Middle East region." SIGN ON AIRCRAFT FUSELAGE READING (English): "ROYAL AIRFORCE" AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC VARIOUS OF AIRCRAFT’S TAIL-GATE OPENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL AIRFORCE OPERATIONAL DEPUTY COMMANDER, GERRY MAYHEW, SAYING: "Over 15,000 people from the United Kingdom's effort have been brought out of Kabul in the last two weeks and they are now being processed back into the UK through our colleagues from the Home Office and wider defence. So a great effort and 165 missions were flown, it's probably our biggest effort since the Berlin airlift in terms of the air mobility fleet you can see behind us." VARIOUS OF GROUND UNLOADING AIRCRAFT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL AIRFORCE OPERATIONAL DEPUTY COMMANDER, GERRY MAYHEW, SAYING: "There is obviously a reflection of two decades of operations in Afghanistan for us all but for this last two weeks I have enormous pride in the Royal Airforce over what has been delivered with all the people in the background that have helped, not just the people that are flying these aircraft behind us, extraordinary effort." VARIOUS OF GROUND CREW UNLOADING AIRCRAFT
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2021 23:45
  • Keywords: Afghanistan Brize Norton Plane military hardware
  • Location: RAF BRIZE NORTON, OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, UK
  • City: RAF BRIZE NORTON, OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, UK
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA001ESC2EYV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) said on Sunday (August 29) they are pleased with the "extraordinary effort" that has seen more than 15,000 people airlifted out of Kabul.
    Air Marshal Gerry Mayhew told Reuters that the RAF flew 165 missions in the last fornight, adding that the "vast majority" of the operation was now complete.
    Britain's last military flight left Kabul late on Saturday (August 28), ending a chaotic two weeks in which soldiers helped to evacuate people from the crowds who descended on the capital's airport, desperate to flee the country.
    Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended Britain's airlift from Kabul on Sunday following growing criticism that ministers had been "asleep on watch", potentially leaving thousands of eligible Afghans behind in the country.
    Britain, like the United States, has been criticised for failing to predict how quickly the Afghan government would fall, meaning it had not made sufficient preparation for the chaos that would follow when the Taliban seized power.
    (Production: Ben Makori, Edward Baran)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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