The
Kunduz airlift, also known as the
Airlift of Evil, refers to the
evacuation of thousands of top commanders and members of the
Taliban and
Al-Qaeda, their
Pakistani advisers including Pakistani
Inter-Services Intelligence agents and army personnel, and other
Jihadi volunteers and sympathizers, from the city of
Kunduz,
Afghanistan, in November 2001
[2] just before
its capture by
U.S. and
United Front of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance) forces during the
War in Afghanistan. As described in several reports, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda combatants were safely evacuated from Kunduz and
airlifted by
Pakistan Air Force cargo aircraft to
Pakistan Air Force bases in
Chitral and
Gilgit in Pakistan Administered Kashmir's
Northern Areas.
[
The revelation that the U.S. had acquiesced to the escape of potentially dangerous individuals including the top leadership of the Taliban and Al Qaeda was a controversial and politically contentious topic that sparked off a debate in the western media and elicited denials of knowledge of this event from top
Bush administration officials including
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
One senior (U.S.) intelligence analyst told me, "The request was made by Musharraf to Bush, but Cheney took charge — a token of who was handling Musharraf at the time. The approval was not shared with anyone at State, including Colin Powell, until well after the event.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_airlift
