The Civil Reserve Air Fleet, an entity that has been in place since 1952 after the Berlin Airlift, was activated by the Pentagon early this morning.

The Pentagon on Sunday activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet that will allow commercial airlines to assist with the Biden administration’s evacuation of Americans and Afghans at risk of reprisals by the Taliban, according to a report.

The program will enable 20 airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, among others, to support the evacuation efforts of US citizens and Afghans with special immigrant visas from Europe and the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Last night, the Wall Street Journal published an exclusive discussing the fact that this is a contingency now under consideration. Does this mean those 20 airplanes will be flying in and out of Kabul? No. 

Instead the air fleet will be ferrying evacuees from Germany, Bahrain, and Qatar to military bases within the United States. This is to alleviate the overcrowding already happening at those three in-take places, which led to at least one nine hour pause of flights out of Kabul. 

This also comes at a time when the danger to Americans still in Afghanistan, plus Afghan SIV’s and others is ramping up. 

US Embassy in Kabul issues updated security alert: Americans should *not* come to Kabul airport unless instructed by US government to do so. But first, fill out the online forms. And don't even think about calling us. https://t.co/6yTiSE7Bc2 pic.twitter.com/S0T4Y0woe7

— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 21, 2021

There are a great many Americans still stuck in Afghanistan. Do you think it’s easy for them to just pick up and make a drive across Kabul or across a rough, rugged country to the ONLY working airport in the country? Evidently that’s what the Biden Administration thought. But now, as it becomes clear that the left and right hands nor the middle fingers of the Biden Administration knew what the hell they were doing, multiple contingency plans are suddenly appearing. 

In another aviation move, the Transportation Department issued an order Friday granting foreign carriers that wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to land in the U.S. blanket authority to conduct U.S.-government-sponsored evacuation flights to U.S. airports, until Sept. 30.

NOTE that date! September 30th. Remember how Joe was shrilly insistent that everyone would be out of Afghanistan by August 31st? Then WHY would evacuation flights potentially be running through the entire month of September? Perhaps because the Biden Admin is realizing that the plans they put in place were pieces of crap?

I mean seriously, who the hell decides to abandon a major military installation with TWO runways, leaves $85 million dollars in military equipment behind and then decides a single runway airport is the best possible choice to get thousands of people out of the country. Oh wait, that’s the Biden Administration with knaves and fools in charge. 

The entire time I served in the military everyone of us knew one of our unique advantages was our ability to project power anywhere at a moments notice.@POTUS has now told the world we can't leave the security of our base even to save our own people…it's disgraceful.

— Dan Bowen (@ScotchGuyDan) August 22, 2021

But NOW, as the situation worsens, let’s activate the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to help clean up the mess Joe and his pals created.

Will Joe try to tell us this afternoon that this was one of those contingency plans he’s been yammering about since Monday? Given his speech on Friday was so full of lies that Jennifer Griffin lost her cool and the New York Times ran a massive fact check, I’d say there will be more lies headed our way. 

Politico reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III told Congress on Friday that some Americans trying to leave Afghanistan had been harassed and beaten by Taliban fighters.

An unnamed American resident in Afghanistan told ABC News that he had witnessed people holding U.S. passports not being allowed through Taliban checkpoints. Clarissa Ward, a CNN reporter in Kabul, said after Mr. Biden’s remarks that she had difficulty reaching the airport.

“Working how to get to this airport is like a Rubik’s Cube,” Ms. Ward said on CNN on Friday. “Anyone who says that any American can get in here is — yes, I mean, technically, it’s possible. But it’s extremely difficult, and it is dangerous.”

It’s incredibly dangerous in Afghanistan right now. There are reports of nearly 70K Americans trapped there, and all the Biden Administration can do is say they are politely asking the Taliban to let them pass without harm.

https://youtu.be/MLgF35itG_k

Tell you what, given the fear that Americans are dealing with, the State Department can take their diplomacy and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. 

Twenty planes along with pilots and crew are being activated right now. However, if those twenty planes aren’t enough, the Civil Rescue Air Fleet can have up to 100 planes activated. Which could have an interesting and potentially negative effect on air travel here in the United States. Here’s something else to consider, if more planes are needed for the Civil Reserve Air Fleet efforts, this could be a problem.

Some large airlines have grounded their largest, widebody aircraft, the type most useful for this mission, due to international travel restrictions put in place fordue to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, has grounded dozens of its Airbus A380 super jumbo airliners during the pandemic. Etihad, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier, has grounded all 10 of its A380s, as has Qatar Airways. It’s unclear how quickly they could return to service if the U.S. contracted either carrier.

But contingency plans for the win!

One awful thing about the Afghan disaster is our evacuation is largely relying on Taliban, al-Qaeda, & ISIS-K continuing to decide not to launch big attacks on us / airport / crowds (they certainly have capability). It’s the problem w/ losing Kabul *before* getting our folks out.

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) August 22, 2021

Depending upon how long it takes to get the Civil Reserve Air Fleet activated, the most important thing is, the work MUST continue to get all Americans safely out of Afghanistan. All Americans and all our troops there need our continued prayers. 

Feature Photo Credit: Jet planes in flight by The Pixelman via Pixabay, cropped and modified