Armed Forces must train for more Kabul-style evacuations, says Afghanistan commander

The Armed Forces must do more training for Kabul-style evacuations, the RAF commander in charge of the Afghanistan airlift has said, as he admits “you can't just sprinkle air force dust on a problem”.

Wing Commander Calvin Bailey said Operation Pitting, the airlift of people out of Kabul, was well-planned but “didn’t happen at a moment of our choosing”.

Wg Cdr Bailey, the Detachment Commander of the deployed Air Mobility Forces, said the least technical RAF aircraft used on the operation, the C-17, showed its “unquestionable capability” and “underwrote the success of the operation”.

He said the C-17 fleet was “almost irreplaceable”. He said there were newer, more modern aircraft, “but on some occasions size is the most important attribute, regardless how new that technology is”.

However, at an event hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, Wg Cdr Bailey said that as important as the aircraft were, it was the diverse skill sets and training of RAF personnel that made the operation possible.

‘Investment in time’

“The US like to say 'you can't sprinkle special forces dust on a problem',” he said

“It’s the same for air forces. It takes a large amount of investment in time to develop the people.”

Kabul fell to the Taliban on August 15 this year, triggering an urgent, multinational non-combatant evacuation effort.

In the largest air mobility operation since the Berlin Airlift, the RAF and 16 Air Assault Brigade successfully evacuated to safety more than15,000 eligible Afghan and British nationals.

Wg Cdr Bailey, a former commander of RAF missions in Kandahar, said there was a “conflict” between planning for emergencies and routine tasking. Sometimes specific missions, such as evacuation operations that may only happen rarely, must be rehearsed.

“To be able to turn your hand to difficult and dangerous tasks you need to be able to set up and train your forces in isolation,” he said.

‘You’re not in command’

One of the most significant lessons from the operation was the need for direct communications with people on the ground in order to understand the situation.

“Emails don't work,” Wg Cdr Bailey said. “If you think you’re commanding by using email, you’re not in command.”

He said he had received around 500 emails a day at the height of the evacuation, most of which he could not deal with.

“The temptation nowadays is to hide behind emails,” he said, adding the necessity of immediate action in such a fast-moving situation meant simple phone calls were the best means of communicating.