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Kunduz airlift

Kunduz airlift
Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

Kunduz District shown within Afghanistan
DateNovember 2001
Location
Kunduz, Afghanistan
Result

The Kunduz airlift, also called the Airlift of Evil, refers to the evacuation by Pakistan of hundreds of top commanders and members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda as well as their Pakistani advisors (which included agents of the Inter-Services Intelligence and personnel of the Pakistani military) from the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, in November 2001. The incident reportedly occurred just before the Siege of Kunduz, which saw the city fall into the hands of the Northern Alliance and the United States during the opening phase of the War in Afghanistan.[3] From Kunduz, the militants were taken to Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit in the Northern Areas.[4][5][6][7][8] However, both the United States and Pakistan have denied that the airlift ever took place; Richard Myers, the then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Kunduz Airport had been disabled by American bombing raids;[9] Donald Rumsfeld, the then-Secretary of Defense, stated on 2 December 2001 that "neither Pakistan nor any other country flew any planes into Afghanistan to evacuate anybody".[9]

  1. ^ "Mystery of Taliban 'flown out by Pakistan'". The Telegraph. 27 November 2001.
  2. ^ Hersh, Seymour M. (2005). Chain of Command. Harper Collins. p. 132. ISBN 978-0141020884.
  3. ^ Karlekar, Hiranmay (2012). Endgame in Afghanistan: For Whom the Dice Rolls. Sage. p. 206. ISBN 978-8132109747.
  4. ^ Hersh, Seymour M. (28 January 2002). "The Getaway". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  5. ^ Moran, Michael (29 November 2001). "The 'airlift of evil'". NBC News. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  6. ^ Press Trust of India (24 January 2002). "India protests airlift of Pakistani fighters from Kunduz". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  7. ^ Ratnescar, Romesh (10 October 2002). "Afghanistan: One year on". CNN. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  8. ^ George, Marcus (26 November 2001). "Kunduz celebrates end of siege". BBC News. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  9. ^ a b Ahmed Rashid (2008). Descent Into Chaos: The US and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Viking. pp. 91–92. ISBN 978-0-670-01970-0.

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