At least 3 babies born during Afghanistan evacuation operations

At least three babies have been born during the evacuation efforts from Afghanistan, according to the command overseeing the U.S. military airlift out of Kabul.

One such birth was previously reported aboard a U.S. evacuation flight from from Doha, Qatar, that landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Saturday.

But the number has now increased, with U.S. Transportation Command head Gen. Stephen Lyons telling reporters his “last data point was three.”

“I really appreciate the news reporting on the baby being born as that flight came into Ramstein. As a matter of fact, there’s actually been more than that. Just an incredible, incredible operation ongoing, you know, just impressive work by our great airmen,” Lyons said. 

He did not offer details on where or when the babies were born.

The Biden administration earlier on Monday revealed the U.S. has evacuated roughly 37,000 people from Afghanistan over the past week, with 16,000 of those evacuees coming in the last 24 hours.

The area outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport remains in chaos a little more than a week after the Taliban took control of the capital city on Aug. 15, with thousands attempting to make it to the airfield and escape the country. 

Lyons said the threat of planes being attacked as they enter or leave Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is “significant” but noted they are in close contact with U.S. Central Command and other agencies on “threat reporting.”

“I’m confident that we’re taking the correct measures to mitigate the threat and we’re connected to the right source,” Lyons said, declining to go into details.

He noted that transport planes were “airborne in less than three hours” after Kabul fell to help begin evacuations and have been “nonstop” ever since, with C-17s on the ground at the airport for less than one hour before they are in the sky again with evacuees.

“We are pushing the limits to do everything we can to get every single evacuee out of Kabul,” Lyons said. “We’re not going to let up.”

He added that more than 200 aircraft are committed to the Kabul airlift, with roughly 450 passengers per C-17, and said he was “very, very confident” the U.S. military would sustain and improve that effort.

“My commitment is to ensure that airlifts are never constrained in this operation,” he said.

To manage the intense schedule, Lyons said the military is using twice as many aircrews.

“The idea is to keep those planes moving all the time, either by extending the crew day or preferably by swapping crews,” he said.

“We are pushing the limits to do everything we can to get every single evacuee out of Kabul,” he added.