Defense

Baby girl born on Afghanistan evacuation flight named ‘Reach’ after call sign

The baby girl born on a U.S. military evacuation flight out of Afghanistan has been named Reach, the call sign of the aircraft, the top U.S. general in Europe told reporters on Wednesday.

U.S. European Command head Gen. Tod Wolters said defense officials have spoken to the Afghan parents of the girl born on the C-17 as it made its way from a staging base in Qatar to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

“As you can well imagine, being an Air Force fighter pilot, it’s my dream to watch that young child called Reach grow up to be a U.S. citizen and fly United States Air Force fighters in our Air Force,” Wolters joked.

Two other babies were delivered at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany after evacuees touched down in the country.

Wolters said “all three babies are good.”

About 82,300 evacuees have been flown out of Kabul since the country fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15, including 19,000 people in the past 24 hours, the Pentagon officials said earlier on Wednesday.