Ahmad Fahim can remember the dust and chaos of Hamid Karzai International Airport as if it was yesterday. The former Paratrooper counts himself fortunate to be able to tell how a thin line of British troops plucked thousands of desperate Afghans from an uncertain fate at the hands of the ascendant Taliban. The Private, who is known by his last name, was among the first UK personnel in and last to leave after taking a frontline role in what would be the Western allies’ final act in the country.
One of the hellish scenes he witnessed came when he was just 200 metres from a suicide bomb blast that killed 13 US service personnel and around 170 Afghan civilians at the airport’s Abbey Gate. ‘I find it hard to describe the chaos on the ground at the airport,’ Fahim says. ‘Those two weeks with Operation Pitting were the most intense and challenging of my life.
‘Being there every day was far worse than what has been shown on the TV, especially with so many women and children getting caught in the mess and then the bombing. ‘I was about 200 metres away when it went off, and I got lucky. ‘I felt the blast and the aftermath was horrific.
‘I escaped physical injury but it’s still with me and seeing a scene in a film or TV programme can take me straight back.’ The decorated veteran, 38, was born in Afghanistan and served as an interpreter with the US Special Forces before joining the Paras. He left the military after Operation Pitting and now lives in London but as the third anniversary of the allies’ withdrawal from the airport approaches the mass evacuation is fresh in his mind.
‘I left the military in 2022 as I felt it was time for a new chapter,’ Fahim says. ‘I’m trying to find my way in the world after making a big adjustment, but the memories have never gone away and in some ways it feels like it happened yesterday. At this time of year it comes flooding back, I think about some of my friends who didn’t make it and about the Taliban regime.
‘After Pitting my friends and family didn’t recognise me, they were saying I was like a different person. Emotionally I was very detached.’ The largest humanitarian aid operation since the Berlin Airlift ended on August 31, 2021, when the last US cargo planes took off from the airfield in the darkness as Taliban fighters below fired gunshots in celebration.
Western troops had worked to exhaustion in fraught and deadly conditions during the deployment, the culmination of the Allies’ almost two-decade long involvement in Afghanistan , which began in the aftermath of 9/11. British troops found themselves a matter of yards away from their former mortal foes, with the Taliban having regained power about two weeks before the last flight as Ashraf Ghani’s government rapidly collapsed. Across Kabul, Taliban fighters had seized the Presidential Palace, posing in Ghani’s office after he fled to the United Arab Emirates.
Over two weeks, more than 15,000 foreign nationals and eligible Afghans were evacuated from the airport, which is no longer named after former president Hamid Karzai, via the Pitting operation. Fahim, who now works in the security industry, left behind not just the failed Western intervention but his own homeland where his role included helping to pull his countrymen from the crowds. ‘The Taliban took over so quickly that it was a shock to the entire world and we didn’t have the luxury of time to plan every detail,’ he says.
‘At the beginning we were just evacuating 1,000 people before the government kept sending signals to lift the bar, and it went up to 15,000. ‘The speed and scale of it all were really unexpected and we did what we could under the circumstances.’ Countdown to the last flight from Kabul The US president says it is ‘time to end America’s longest war’ with a withdrawal planned no later than September 11, 2021 More than 1,000 UK military personnel, mainly from 16 Air Assault Brigade, deploy to Afghanistan in Operation Pitting Taliban fighters enter the palace hours after president Ashraf Ghani flees the country, completing their rapid takeover A suicide bomb at Kabul International Airport kills 13 US service personnel and at least 170 Afghan civilians.
IS-K claim responsibility for the attack. The final UK personnel leave Afghanistan on planes departing from Hamid Karzai International Airport, ending almost 20 years of involvement in the country. US personnel pull out three days later.
Fahim received a Mention in Despatches for his ‘outstanding bravery and selflessness’ with 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment during Pitting. He acted as the battlegroup’s interpreter, which made it possible to clear a route from the Evacuee Handling Centre and the airport in the early days of the evacuation. After the bomb blast, he ran into the crowd to try to help ‘without a thought for his own safety’, the Ministry of Defence said.
‘I have a mix of emotions looking back,’ Fahim says. ‘On the one hand I’m grateful to have played a part in helping 15,000 people to safety. ‘On the other there’s a big sense of loss, of the people we couldn’t save and the families that were torn apart.
‘There was a desperation in the air and I can still hear their noises, they are so fresh.’ The West’s near two-decade intervention came at a heavy cost. The British role in the international mission claimed the lives of 457 UK armed forces personnel, according to official figures.
Freedoms that foreign personnel and Afghans risked or sacrificed their lives for have been rolled back under the Taliban, who now preside over a regime which is considered one of the most repressive in the world. Girls over the age of 11 are banned from secondary school, meaning the nation could have a future without women holding skilled jobs. ‘One thing I never expected is that Afghanistan is running more smoothly now with a significant decrease in everyday violence and bombing,’ Fahim says.
‘Many people feel safer moving around their cities and villages. ‘On the surface at least, life is more predictable. On the other, there are restrictions on education and work for women and girls.
They are not able to follow the ambitions and careers they had once aimed to do. ‘Floggings and enforced dress codes for women have returned, which takes us back to the regime of the 1990s which I can remember.’ Fahim’s service to his homeland began in 2003 with his work for the US military, and he was shot by the Taliban while in the role.
He then joined the British Army in 2017 and was keen to join Pitting because of his knowledge of the country. Two years after leaving the Army he has been left dismayed by the crackdown on human rights in a country where he tried to make a difference right up until the end. More Trending Dozens of British Airways flights cancelled and delayed at Heathrow Huge 21-mile queue on major UK motorway causing hour-long delays Leeds Festival in ruins as Storm Lilian forces three stages to shut down Family of Mike Lynch and daughter Hannah reveal their 'unspeakable grief' ‘As an Afghan, it’s heartbreaking to see these changes, especially after so many years of hard work to make progress,’ he says.
‘It’s especially sad when, as a soldier for the US and the UK, I think of my friends who lost their lives to create a place of safety and freedom and build a better future for Afghans. ‘It’s painful to see all of that stripped away and that’s when I think that we spent twenty years there for nothing. ‘I’m grateful to be here and to be alive with some peace in my life, but the memories of Operation Pitting will always be with me.
’ MORE : Roll call of nameless Afghans killed in action while serving the UK MORE : British Afghanistan mission was ‘boy scout endeavour in graveyard of empires’ MORE : Unsung Afghan interpreters ‘are our own’ says British military veteran Sign Up for News Updates Get your need-to-knowlatest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more Privacy Policy.
