Biden administration may enlist commercial airlines to help evacuate Afghan refugees
The US Transportation Command issued an order to several commercial airlines that the Civil Reserve Air Fleet could be activated
President Joe Biden’s administration is considering enlisting commercial airlines in the US to help in ferrying Afghan refugees who have been evacuated from the war-torn country via military aircrafts, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal had reported on Saturday that an order has been issued by the US Transportation Command to several commercial airlines that the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) could be activated. The flights won’t ply from Afghanistan itself but might include carrying stranded people at American bases in Germany, Qatar and Bahrain. However, officials at the Pentagon didn’t specify which airports or bases the planes might be used at.
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The CRAF is a nearly 70-year-old programme that provides backup to military aircraft capabilities during a crisis related to national defense. It was created after the Berlin airlift between 1948 and 1949, during which the US and the UK delivered more than 2.3 million tonnes of food, fuel and supplies to its ally West Berlin.
The United States Transportation Command, however, told reporters on Saturday that the Pentagon has set no such plan in motion yet.
President Biden told reporters on Friday that the US has made “significant progress” in evacuating US citizens, Afghan allies and others, even as the Taliban has started to crack down on dissent.
However, the US and German embassies asked their citizens in Afghanistan to not travel to Kabul airport due to security concerns. The US embassy cautioned citizens that they should travel to the airport only if there is an “individual instruction from a US government representative to do so”.
