After ISIS suicide bombers killed dozens of civilians and 13 American soldiers outside the gates of Kabul Airport, the U.S. military helped evacuate Afghans desperate to escape from Taliban rule, preparing to launch a security campaign on Friday (August 27). More attacks.
Citing health officials, the attack on Thursday killed 60 civilians. Witnesses said that at least two explosions and gunfire occurred in the area. A video taken by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies scattered around a canal on the edge of the airport.
The attack was largely expected.
The Islamic State (ISIS) is an enemy of the Taliban and the West, and it stated that one of the suicide bombers targeted “an interpreter and collaborator for the U.S. military.” US officials also accused the organization and vowed to retaliate.
General Frank McKenzie, the commander of the US Central Command, said that US commanders remain vigilant against more attacks by the Islamic State, which may include rockets or vehicle-mounted bombs aimed at airports.
“We are doing everything we can to prepare,” he said, adding that some intelligence is being shared with the Taliban, and he believes that “some attacks have been thwarted by them.”
The U.S. forces are scrambling to complete the withdrawal from Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden. He said that the United States had long ago realized the original reason for invading the country in 2001: eradicate al-Qaeda militants and prevent the same mistakes. September The attacks on the United States on the 11th.
Biden said he has ordered the Pentagon to plan how to crack down on ISIS-K, an affiliate of the Islamic State that claims to be responsible.
“We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said in a White House TV commentary.
Video taken after the attack showed that there were dead bodies in the sewers next to the airport fence. Some dead bodies were taken out and piled up in piles, while weeping civilians were looking for their relatives.
This video of the Kabul airport attack today may be very vivid-but it needs to be seen.
I want you to understand what it means to come from #Afghanistan. Everywhere…the corpses of people’s mothers, fathers, siblings or children.
No country deserves this!
-Shabnam Nasimi (@NasimiShabnam) August 26, 2021
An Afghan witness said: “I saw corpses and body parts flying in the air like a tornado blowing plastic bags.” “The little bit of water flowing in the sewer has turned into blood.”
Zubair, a 24-year-old civil engineer, said he had approached a suicide bomber who detonated explosives.
“Men, women and children are all screaming. I saw many injured people-men, women and children-being loaded into private cars and taken to the hospital,” he said.
‘CChaotic evacuation
A spokesperson for the US Central Command stated that the 18 soldiers injured in the attack “are being evacuated by airlift from Afghanistan, taking a specially equipped C-17 and an activated surgical unit.”
A Taliban official stated that at least 28 members of the militant group were killed in the attack.
He said: “We lost more people in the airport bombing than the Americans,” he added, adding that the Taliban were “irresponsible for the chaotic evacuation plans prepared by foreign countries.”
A NATO diplomat based in Kabul stated that the goal of all foreign troops is to evacuate their citizens and embassy employees by August 30.
The diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the Taliban will strengthen security around the airport.
“Security is their responsibility,” the diplomat said, adding that the Taliban should investigate the Islamic State network.
Western countries worry that the Al-Qaida Taliban who once sheltered Osama bin Laden will make Afghanistan a safe haven for militants again. The Taliban said they would not allow this country to be used by terrorists.
ISIS-K was initially limited to the area bordering Pakistan, but has established a second front in the northern part of the country. West Point’s Center for Combating Terrorism stated that ISIS-K, in addition to Afghans, also includes Pakistanis from other militant groups and Uzbek extremists.
A sort ofLift continues
Mackenzie said that despite the threat of further attacks, the United States will continue to evacuate, noting that there are still about 1,000 American citizens in Afghanistan.
A Western security official stationed at the airport said that the speed of evacuation flights accelerated on Friday and that US passport holders have been allowed to enter the airport compound.
In the past 12 days, nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated in Western countries. But they admit that when the last batch of US troops leave at the end of this month, thousands will be left behind.
Several Western countries stated that the large-scale airlift of civilians was about to end and announced that their last remaining troops had left the country.
It is believed that since a helicopter was shot down in 2011 and killed 30 people, the number of casualties of the US military in the attack on Thursday was the highest in a single incident in Afghanistan.
The death of the United States is the first action taken by Afghanistan in 18 months. Critics may cite this fact. They accuse Biden of ordering a sudden troop withdrawal and recklessly abandoning the stable and hard-won status quo.
