FILE PHOTO: U.S. Army soldiers assigned patrol Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 17, 20,21 Picture taken August 17, 2021.
According to someone familiar with the matter, the Biden administration told U.S. commercial airlines it could order them help in Afghanistan evacuation.
Late Friday, several major commercial airlines were informed by the Defense Department that they could activate the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to boost airlift. The person added that flights would not be from Afghanistan but from other locations. According to The Wall Street Journal which first reported the news, this could include individuals who are currently stranded at U.S. military bases in Germany, Qatar, and Bahrain.
After the Berlin airlift, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, which is almost 70 years old, was established to support a "major national defense crisis." These reasons include war and humanitarian or natural catastrophes.
The White House and Defense Department did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Biden announced the U.S. withdrawal form Afghanistan earlier in the year. But it has been a disaster. After the Taliban took control of Kabul last week, thousands of people stormed the airport in Kabul to retake the country.
According to NBC News, U.S. defense officials said Saturday that they are looking at alternative routes to transport Americans, Afghans, and third-country citizens to Kabul's airport. This is in response to threats by the Islamic State.
American citizens were warned by the U.S. Embassy to Afghanistan that they should not travel to Kabul Airport because of "potential security threats beyond the Kabul airport gates."
On Saturday, a White House official informed journalists that six U.S. military C-17s had left Kabul and that 32 charters had also left. These 38 flights carried approximately 3,800 passengers. According to the White House, approximately 17,000 people have been evacuated since August 14.
According to CNBC, several U.S. airlines had offered their services earlier in the week for the airlift of evacuees.
The bids for the so-called CRAF flight opened on Saturday and would close Monday, United Airlines flight attendants wrote their union, the Association of Flight Attendants in a memo.
The note stated that United must bid for CRAF operations immediately to ensure it is ready in case the United States Department of Defense activates United Airlines CRAF.
