Afghan woman gives birth to baby girl on US evacuation plane

An Afghan woman gave birth in the cargo bay of an evacuation flight, said American authorities. The unidentified woman gave birth moments after U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Saturday. The Air Force has been trying to evacuate Americans and Afghan people associated with the American forces in the country in the wake of the Taliban taking control of Kabul, among other cities. “The mother went into labor and began having complications. The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilize and save the mother’s life,” said US Air Mobility Command on Sunday, reported The Washington Post.

The woman was treated by medics who were aboard the flight before delivering the baby in the cargo bay of the aircraft. The US Air Mobility Command confirmed that the baby girl and mother are in good condition and added that they had been transported to a nearby medical facility. America still holds control over the airport despite the Taliban taking over the city. Afghanistan people have been trying to leave the country with the Afghanistan government falling within a month of US withdrawal. America did a deal with the Taliban but failed to prepare for evacuations which have proved to be a death sentence for many associated with America. “These past few days have been difficult to process, and not because the Taliban’s progress was surprising,” said Representative Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, told CNN. “In fact, the opposite. We sounded the alarm, and our dire warnings fell on deaf ears.”

U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft was carrying Afghans from an “intermediate staging base in the Middle East,” said the Air Mobility Command. Many have been evacuated with many passing through the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, while some are now being housed at U.S. bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. It is estimated that roughly 17,000 people, including 2,500 Americans have been flown out of Kabul. There are currently 5,000 Afghans in the US airbase in Ramstein, according to the U.S. military’s Stars and Stripes newspaper. 

An image of a baby being handed over to US soldiers over a wired fence, and people trying to cling on to a flight's wheels, has highlighted the dire situation in which America leaves Afghanistan. After more than 20 years in the country, and training the Afghan army to resist the Taliban, the Afghan forces and government fell in less than a month of America's withdrawal from the country. America's perpetual wars have also been called into question after signing off a transition deal with the Taliban. America spent more than $2 trillion in the Afghan war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a study by Brown University. 

America launched a war against Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks. Taliban was targeted for reportedly giving shelter to Osama Bin Laden, but after more than 20 years in Afghanistan, spending 2 trillion, killing at least 47,000 Afghan civilians, and costing the lives of 5,200 U.S. military troops, America handed over the country back to the Taliban and withdrew. The war has also displaced at least 2,500,000 Afghans from their country. While this is the official number, the real number may be much higher, state U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.

According to UNICEF, children have suffered heavily from the protracted war, due to displacement, trauma due to the horrific events they have witnessed, disrupted schooling, and from being recruited to armed groups. The UN body noted that half of all children under 5 in the country are malnourished. At least 3,700,000 children in Afghanistan are out of school, and 60 percent of them are girls, reported UNICEF. Despite having an active hand in displacing Afghans and creating refugees, most of the countries involved in the war, including America, have been reluctant to accept refugees.