Viewers of new documentary series Evacuation were left stunned as episode 1 depicted the lengths civilians went to as they tried to flee war-stricken .
recounts exactly what happened as the closed in on Kabul in August 2021, with British military personnel tasked with evacuating 15,000 British passport holders, embassy staff, and vulnerable Afghan civilians.
They had just 16 days to do so, with Operation Pitting rapidly descending into chaos.
Audiences at home were shocked to see the scenes unfold at Kabul airport, while soldiers, pilots, and medics involved in the operation spoke candidly and emotionally about what they witnessed.
The documentary also included interviews with Afghans who were luckily rescued during the operation.
Understandably, countless Afghans were desperate to flee, with the episode showing real mobile phone footage of men, women, and children sprinting towards aircrafts and completely blocking the runway in an attempt to reach safety.
People threw themselves onto and under planes, with parents gripping onto their small babies as they packed a lifetime’s worth of belongings into a single suitcase in the hopes of being able to escape.
Reacting to the horrific moments, viewers of Evacuation said they felt ‘traumatised’.
‘After watching #Evacuation I actually feel sick’, one viewer tweeted, with another writing: ‘That was traumatic. I can barely believe what I just saw. How could that happen?’
‘Wow that’s an incredibly powerful story – extraordinary people’, another said, praising the Armed Forces.
‘That was a tough watch’, another said.
Others called the documentary ‘harrowing’, as one emotional viewer tweeted: ‘so desperate to get away they hung on to whatever part of the plane they could while it took off! that was a hard watch!’
While all the chaos was unfolding at the airport in Kabul, political indecision at the top of the Government caused more uncertainty on the ground.
Dominic Raab has been condemned for his lack of leadership over the situation, as he was on holiday when Kabul fell to Taliban forces.
British soldiers had ‘no idea’ how many people they were evacuating, with forces tasked with processing those eligible for a flight from a hotel near to the airport while thousands others gathered outside.
Taking to Twitter once again, viewers urged both Raab and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to watch the three-part series.
‘Watching #Evacuation and the effect it had on the grass roots military getting people out of Afghanistan..I also remember our Foreign Secretary at the time @DominicRaab, sat on a beach, on holiday..As you would. Still kept his job!’, one viewer slammed.
‘The UK and US Governments should be ashamed after watching people hanging on the plane and then falling to their death because of the Taliban’, tweeted another.
‘Let’s see those Tories reaction to this, the same Tories that are trying to send the boats back, when some of these people who were left, are on these boats’, another argued, in reference to the current government’s controversial immigration policies.
However, one moment that did strike viewers as powerful was hearing tales of humanity amid all the distress.
‘The thing that surprised me the most was how many families there were and in particular, how many children. They looked exhausted,’ said one of the soldiers.
‘I did find myself thinking, “That could just as easily be my family.”
‘Then I saw these two young girls, it was really a wonderful moment in the midst of all of this, they came up jumped on the sidewall seats and were dancing… in matching outfits…’
He was unable to finish his story, becoming tearful and apologising.
‘Them two little girls were just happy to be safe’, one Twitter user responded.
All episodes of Evacuation are available to stream now on All4. Episode 2 airs on Channel 4 tomorrow night at 9pm.
