I watched it tonight. It focused exclusively on first person accounts of what happened on the ground. Even more, interviews with Marines on the ground was balanced out with interviews with Taliban and those who managed to evacuate in order to provide of view from every angle. Very interesting.

The one thing which stood out was the whole operation was far, FAR more chaotic than what I had gathered from the reports given at the time. The initial contingent of 150 Marines was completely inadequate for the task they were given. The airfield was overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of people attempting to flee. So much so that aircraft were prevented from taking off. Apache helicopters were slowly flying down the runway a couple of feet off the ground just to clear a path for the C-17s to taxi and takeoff. Even when additional Marines eventually augmented the initial contingent, they were still overwhelmed by the sheer number of people attempting to flee at any cost. Only when Afghan special forces showed up and began executing people on the runway did the crowds clear the runways. It was sheer brutality and endless stories of tragedy and grief.

HBO stayed away from politics. The goal of the documentary was to show what happened at the Kabul airport over a 17-day period that marked the end of a 20-year war, and they did a very good job of it.

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