My Vote For Most Iconic Photo of Evacuation From Kabul

The Taliban are still outside the city and talking about a transitional government, so no one is forcing that guy at gunpoint to paint over female images, but everyone knows what will be expected of them and they are already complying. 

My vote for most iconic image of the U.S. Embassy's hasty departure is the one below. Forget all the photos of choppers over the embassy, here's the final act of our evacuation: dropping helmets and body armor just before boarding the flight out.

The equivalent in Saigon '75 was the evacuees dropping their small arms into the embassy pool before getting on the chopper.

An Infrequent Wind is Blowing

We're not quite to that point yet, but somebody in Kabul is probably keying up White Christmas about now.

Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

The U.S. Embassy in Saigon sent its last message:

PLAN TO CLOSE MISSION AT ABOUT 0430 30 APRIL LOCAL TIME. DUE TO NECESSITY TO DESTROY COMMO GEAR THIS IS THE LAST MESSAGE FROM EMBASSY SAIGON.

The U.S. Ambassador, Graham Martin, initiated Operation Frequent Wind, the helicopter evacuation of the last remaining U.S. citizens and 'at-risk' Vietnamese allies from Saigon by U.S. Navy Task Force 76.

At 04:58, Ambassador Martin boarded a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helo and was flown to the USS Blue Ridge. At 07:53, the final helo in the airlift extracted eleven Marine Security Guards from the embassy rooftop, and the evacuation was over.

See Tears Before the Rain for an excellent collection of first-person accounts of those last days.