'In the air, all safe. Take a deep breath': The inside story of Ireland’s Kabul rescue mission

Just after 3.30pm on Thursday, a WhatsApp message went around Irish diplomatic and military circles: “In the air, all safe. Take a deep breath.”

It marked the end of a tense 40-hour period during which a joint diplomatic and special forces team managed to evacuate 26 Irish citizens from the most dangerous airport in the world.

Despite the success of the mission to Kabul, for officials monitoring the situation on the ground at the National Emergency Co-ordination Committee in Ireland, the relief was tinged with grief and frustration.

Frustration because 75 Irish citizens or residents still remain stranded in Afghanistan with no obvious means of escape. And grief because dozens lay dead just outside the airport following devastating suicide bomb attacks near the gate which had been used to process Irish citizens.

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Officials who spoke to The Irish Times described the tension and fear as the Irish mission, known as an Emergency Consular Assistance Team (Ecat), departed for Kabul seven days after the Taliban shocked the world by overrunning the Afghan capital in a matter of hours.

Under the Ecat concept, a designated team comprising Defence Forces and Department of Foreign Affairs personnel can be formed at short notice to rescue Irish citizens abroad.

Such teams have been successfully deployed on several missions, including to Libya after the fall of Muammar Gadafy in 2011 and to Turkey in 2019 to repatriate Lisa Smith, a former Irish solider turned alleged Isis member.

Remote efforts

Plans were put in place to dispatch an Ecat to Kabul shortly before it fell to the Taliban as publicly Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney was insisting the best method to get Irish people out was through remote consular efforts from the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi, some 1,800km away.

At the time, the Minister was arguably correct. By last Monday, 10 Irish citizens had been evacuated in small groups on the aircraft of friendly countries.

Questions are sure to be asked in the future about whether the mission should have gone earlier

These were mostly single people who worked for non-governmental organisations in the country. As experienced travellers, they were well-equipped to navigate the byzantine checkpoints around the airport.

The problem was those remaining were families, many with young children. Some were dual Irish and Afghan citizens. Officials feared these groups would have trouble getting through checkpoints and would need help. This was the primary reason a decision was made to send an Irish team.

August was perhaps the worst time for such a crisis to happen. Many Irish Afghans had used the school holidays to travel back to the country to see relatives. At any other time of the year, the numbers requiring evacuation would have been significantly smaller.

Members of the Army Ranger Wing had already been preparing to depart by the middle of last week and were awaiting orders. They were paired up with two senior diplomats, including one with vast experience of securing the evacuation of Irish people from hostile environments, including Ibrahim Halawa and Lisa Smith.

Ireland lacks a military aircraft capable of reaching Kabul, meaning the diplomats and soldiers had to hitch a ride. Consideration was given to asking the US, but its military appeared to have their hands full co-ordinating the evacuation of thousands of its own citizens. Attention then turned to the French.

French flight

Maj Gen Sean Clancy, the Defence Forces Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, contacted his counterpart in France and almost instantly secured passage for the Irish team on an outbound flight.

Officials put this down to the excellent relationships between Irish and European civil servants and senior military officers which have been fostered through years of co-operation at EU level.

The final decision to send the team was made in Casement Aerodrome at 7.30pm on Monday. Within 12 hours, the soldiers and diplomats were on a French A400M bound for Afghanistan.

Sources described the atmosphere in Kabul airport as strangely calm. As crowds massed outside, the Rangers established an “office space” for the diplomats and established communications with headquarters in Ireland.

There were two main entrances to the airport. One was exclusively for American citizens while the other was for everyone else. British soldiers stationed at this gate had agreed to process Irish citizens at their checkpoint, known as Camp Baron. The Rangers co-ordinated with their British counterparts and diverted any Irish citizens who showed up to their makeshift embassy. They also met Irish citizens at prearranged points, maintained security for the diplomats and provided any required medical assistance.

Through the efforts of the diplomats, seats were found for Irish citizens on Dutch, French and German aircraft. By Thursday, about 10 had been evacuated.

By this point, officials in Ireland were realising there were far more citizens seeking to leave than initially suspected.

Taliban gunmen

Images of people falling off US military planes as they took off earlier in the week seemed to have prompted people who originally believed they were safe to seek a way out. As dawn broke on Thursday, there were about 90 Irish citizens or residents seeking evacuation.

The challenge during the mission was not finding seats on planes, it was getting people through the airport checkpoints. Taliban gunmen were preventing people with valid passports from entering, meaning many planes were leaving only partially full.

Sources described the Irish operation as a testament to the importance of diplomatic relations. In some instances, nations such as Ukraine proactively contacted the Irish to offer seats on their aircraft.

Officials expressed particular gratitude to their British counterparts. Arguments over issues like Brexit seemed to take a back seat in favour of basic principles of friendly co-operation. “It’s a fundamental principle of helping each other out in situations like this,” said one source.

Originally the mission was supposed to last 48 hours, but by Thursday morning, as the security situation worsened and other countries began to pull out, military and civil leadership in Ireland decided the risk had become unacceptable.

The team prepared to leave on a French aircraft due to depart just before midday. However, there would not be room for the 15 more Irish people who had recently arrived through the checkpoints.

“We couldn’t leave them unaccompanied in the airport. We had no guarantee they would have been able to get on the flight alone,” said a source.

A decision was made. One diplomat would leave with seven Rangers on the French flight while the other, accompanied by two Rangers, would stay with the Irish citizens to make sure they got on another plane.

Suicide bombers

A couple of hours later these 15 Irish people and their escorts were safely on a Finnish aircraft. It was then the suicide bombers struck, resulting in the runway being closed briefly.

An hour later, they were in the air. “At the time we had no idea how devastating the bomb had been. It was only later we learned there were dozens of deaths,” one official said.

Questions are sure to be asked in the future about whether the mission should have gone earlier and whether Ireland should have its own long-range aircraft. But for now, the main concern is the 60 Irish citizens and 15 residents who remain in Afghanistan.

Some may attempt to get out on commercial flights when they resume. Others are considering trying to drive out of the country. All remain in contact with the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

“This is being touted as a great success story and in some ways it is,” said one official. “But the job is not even half-done.”