Hamid Karzai International Airport, also known as HKIA, is located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from the city centre of Kabul in Afghanistan. It serves as one of the nation's main international airports and as one of the largest military bases, capable of housing over one hundred aircraft. It was previously named Kabul International Airport and locally as Khwaja Rawash Airport, though it continues to be officially known by some airlines by the latter name. The airport was given its current name in 2014 in honor of former President Hamid Karzai. The decision was made by the National Assembly of Afghanistan and the Cabinet of the then President Ashraf Ghani.
Afghanistan first competed at the Paralympic Games during the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, where it was represented by cyclists Gul Afzal and Zabet Khan.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Kabul was the official diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The embassy was once housed in a chancery located on Great Massoud Road in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and was built at a cost of nearly $800 million. On 15 August 2021, in the face of a Taliban advance on Kabul, embassy staff started to be relocated to makeshift but secure facilities at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The chancery building officially closed late 15 August.
The 2020 Summer Paralympics, branded as Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport parasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee. It was the 16th Summer Paralympic Games and was held in Tokyo, Japan between 24 August and 5 September 2021.
The Afghan peace process comprises the proposals and negotiations that seek to end the war in Afghanistan that began in 2001. Although there had been sporadic efforts since the war began, negotiations and the peace movement intensified in 2018 amid talks between the Taliban, which is the main insurgent group fighting against the then-Afghan government and American troops, and the United States, thousands of whose soldiers maintained a presence within the country to support the Afghan government. Besides the United States, major powers such as China, India, Pakistan, Russia, as well as NATO, play a part that they see as facilitating the peace process, while the Afghan peace group People's Peace Movement sees regional and global powers as a cause of continued war.
Indonesia competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, the Games were rescheduled for 24 August to 5 September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United States Armed Forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 2001–2021 War in Afghanistan. The withdrawal took place in the context of the Doha Agreement, signed in February 2020 by the Trump administration and the Taliban without participation by the Afghan government, which provided for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, in return for a Taliban pledge to prevent al-Qaeda from operating in areas under Taliban control, and future talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government for a permanent ceasefire.
The Doha Agreement, also known as the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan, is a peace agreement that was signed by the United States and the Taliban on February 29, 2020, to bring the Afghanistan War to an end. The four-page agreement was signed at the Sheraton Grand Doha in Doha, Qatar, and published on the US State Department's website. It was negotiated by Zalmay Khalilzad.
During the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games, athletes from each participating country paraded in the Japan National Stadium, preceded by its flag and placard carrier. Each flag bearer had been chosen either by the nation's National Paralympic Committee or by the athletes themselves.
A military offensive by the Taliban and allied militant groups against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its allies began on 1 May 2021, coinciding with the withdrawal of United States and allied troops from Afghanistan. The offensive marked the end of the near 20 year old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the United States invasion of the country in response to the September 11 attacks and resulted in the de facto takeover of the country and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Operation Allies Refuge was a United States military operation to airlift from Afghanistan certain at-risk Afghan civilians, particularly interpreters, U.S. embassy employees, and other prospective Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants. U.S. personnel also helped NATO and regional allies in their respective evacuation efforts from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the country's capital of Kabul. The operation was concurrent with the larger American military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the evacuation of all eligible foreigners and vulnerable Afghans.
Operation Pitting was a British military operation to evacuate British nationals and eligible Afghans from Afghanistan following the 2021 Taliban offensive. The operation consisted of more than 1,000 military personnel, including soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade. It ran concurrently with the evacuation efforts of numerous other countries.
Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on 15 August 2021 during a military offensive against the Afghan government that had begun in May 2021. The capture took place hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Most of the provincial capitals of Afghanistan had fallen in succession in the midst of a US troop withdrawal under a February 2020 US–Taliban agreement that concluded on 30 August 2021.
Mohammad Abbas Karimi is a swimmer, who came second in the S5 50 meter butterfly event at the 2017 World Para Swimming Championships, making him the first refugee athlete to win a medal at that competition. He has won national championship events in Afghanistan, Turkey and the US. He came eighth in the 50 meter butterfly S5 event for the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Zakia Khudadadi also spelt as Zakia Khodadadi is an Afghan parataekwondo practitioner. She is the first Afghan female taekwondo practitioner. She rose to prominence after winning the African International Parataekwondo Championship in 2016 at the age of 18. She would represent Afghanistan at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She was initially denied the opportunity to compete at her maiden Paralympics due to the Taliban takeover but she was later allowed by the International Paralympic Committee to compete in the event after being safely evacuated from Afghanistan. She was able to compete and became the first Afghan female Paralympic competitor to compete at the Paralympics after 17 years since Mareena Karim's participation at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. She also officially became the first Afghan female sportsperson to participate in an international sporting event after the Taliban takeover.
Large-scale evacuations of foreign citizens and some vulnerable Afghan citizens took place amid the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from the War in Afghanistan and the Taliban offensive in Afghanistan in 2021. After the fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021 and the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai International Airport remained the only non-Taliban controlled route out of the country, being protected by several thousand NATO troops.
A suicide bombing took place at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 26 August 2021, at 17:50 local time, during the evacuation from Afghanistan. At least 182 people were killed, including 169 Afghan civilians and 13 members of the United States military, the first American military casualties in the War in Afghanistan since February 2020. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Charlotte Bellis is a New Zealand journalist who reports for Al Jazeera.
Hossain Rasouli is an Afghan Paralympic athlete. He would represent Afghanistan at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. He was initially denied the opportunity to compete at his maiden Paralympics due to the Taliban takeover but he was later allowed by the International Paralympic Committee to compete at the event after being safely evacuated from Afghanistan. His left arm was amputated due to a mine explosion.
