By Christopher Miskimon
As the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, the situation quickly became chaotic. A group of veterans, intelligence operatives and even legislative aides worked to evacuate Afghans who had worked with them for two decades and were now being left behind. They feverishly used satellite phones as their tools to get help for these Afghans, who faced almost certain death at the hands of the Taliban. Meanwhile, U.S. Marines manned the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport under extraordinarily difficult conditions during the evacuation. The U.S. military suffered thirteen fatalities from an ISIS suicide bomber. Though the effort was not a complete success, thousands of Afghans were evacuated during a two-week period.
The author was heavily involved in this effort and brings the tragedy and courage of the events to life in this book. He blends the stories of his fellow veterans and the Marines who stood at the Abbey Gate into a fascinating and harrowing account of the evacuation period. It highlights how these ordinary people worked together under difficult conditions to fulfill promises which were not their specific duty to honor, but who felt the call of that obligation, nonetheless.
Life and Death at Abbey Gate: The Fall of Afghan-istan and the Operation to Save our Allies (Mikael Cook with Robert Conlin, Casemate Publishers, Havertown PA, 2024, 192 pp., maps, photographs, $24.95, Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2023, maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $35, HC)
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