Right now, countless Afghan men and women are working hard to get themselves and their families out of Kabul and to safety.
One of those families got a little bit bigger mid-evacuation flight when an Afghan woman went into labor on a US Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The woman was traveling with her husband and their other young child.
As you can imagine, going into labor under these conditions came with complications. Thankfully, the aircraft commander worked with others to ensure the woman's delivery was safe before landing at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
As chaos continues to unfold surrounding the Taliban takeover in Kabul, Afghan individuals and families are desperately seeking ways out of the country. One family consisting of a husband, pregnant wife, and young child were able to secure spots on a C-17 US Air Force evacuation flight to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
During the flight, the Afghan mom went into labor. She started experiencing heavy contractions. As her labor progressed, her blood pressure dropped dangerously low and was causing complications.
"During a flight from an Intermediate Staging Base in the Middle East, the mother went into labor and began having complications," Air Mobility Command revealed on Twitter.
"The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilize and save the mother's life."
As the aircraft landed, the woman entered the end stages of labor. The 86th Medical Group rushed aboard and fashioned her a delivery room in the cargo bay.
"The baby girl and mother were transported to a nearby medical facility and are in good condition," the Air Mobility Command reported.
The United States and its allies have been working to evacuate Americans, Afghans who have helped the US government over its last two decades in the country, and Afghans looking to flee. The effort has been rough, but most recently an estimated 17,000 people were transported out of the country in a 24-hour period.
