- The White House confirmed the rocket attack on the airport because the US military is preparing to withdraw from the country.
- An AFP photographer took an image of a destroyed car, and the launch system can still be seen in the back seat.
- Although there are no reports of casualties or damage to the airport due to rocket attacks, they have caused greater anxiety for locals who have been traumatized by years of war.
On Monday, the Kabul airport was fired by rockets. Under the threat of an attack by the Islamic State group, the U.S. military was racing to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan and withdraw its allies.
President Joe Biden has set the deadline for all U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan on Tuesday, ending the country’s longest military conflict, which began in retaliation for the September 11 attacks.
The hardline Islamic Taliban movement was overthrown in 2001, but returned to power two weeks ago, and its return triggered the outflow of terrified people on the US-led evacuation flight.
These flights have taken more than 120,000 people out of Kabul Airport and will officially end on Tuesday, when the last group of thousands of American troops will be evacuated.
But the U.S. military is now mainly focused on getting itself and U.S. diplomats to take off safely.
The Islamic State, a rival of the Taliban, launched a suicide bomb attack near the airport late last week, killing more than 100 people, including 13 US troops, posing the greatest threat to the withdrawal.
Biden has warned that more attacks are likely to occur, and the United States said it carried out an airstrike on a car bomb prepared by the Islamic State in Kabul on Sunday night. Later Monday morning, rockets were fired at the airport.
‘We can’t sleep’
The White House confirmed that there was a rocket attack on the airport, but said the operation there was “uninterrupted.”
The White House statement said: “The President…reconfirmed his order and asked the commander to redouble his efforts and give priority to taking all necessary measures to protect our ground forces.”
An AFP photographer photographed a destroyed car on Monday, and the launch system can still be seen in the back seat.
A U.S. drone is suspected to have attacked a car about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the airport.
A Taliban official at the scene said he believed that five rockets had been fired and the missile defense system at the airport had been completely destroyed.
Although there are no reports of casualties or damage to the airport due to rocket attacks, they have caused greater anxiety for locals who have been traumatized by years of war.
“Because the Americans control the airport, we cannot sleep normally,” Abdullah, who lives near the airport and only revealed one name, told AFP.
“Whether it’s the sound of fire, rockets, sirens or huge airplanes, we are disturbed. Now they are direct targets, which may put our lives in danger.”
‘Potential loss of innocent lives’
The United States said that Sunday night’s air strikes on car bombs eliminated another threat from Islamic State jihadists.
However, it may also have killed civilians.
US Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban said in a statement: “We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following an attack on a car in Kabul today.”
“We will be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent lives.”
In recent years, the Afghanistan-Pakistan branch of the Islamic State has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in these countries. They massacred civilians in mosques, public squares, schools and even hospitals.
Although both the Islamic State and the Taliban are hardline Sunni Islamists, they are mortal enemies—everyone claim to be the true standard-bearer of jihad.
The suicide bombing at the airport last week caused the single-day death toll of the US military in Afghanistan to reach its worst level since 2011.
The threat of the Islamic State forced the U.S. military and the Taliban to work together to ensure the safety of the airport in ways that could not have been imagined a few weeks ago.
On Saturday, Taliban fighters escorted a steady stream of Afghans from the bus to the main passenger terminal and handed them over to the U.S. military for evacuation.
Taliban leaders
Compared with the first time they took power, the Taliban promised a more moderate ruling brand, which the U.S. military ended because the organization provided asylum for al-Qaeda.
But many Afghans are worried that the Taliban’s cruel interpretation of Islamic law will repeat itself, as well as violent retaliation in cooperation with foreign troops, Western missions, or former US-backed governments.
Western allies have warned that thousands of Afghans in danger cannot board the evacuation flight.
On Sunday, the Taliban revealed that their supreme leader Shibatura Ahunzada is in southern Afghanistan and plans to appear in public.
“He is in Kandahar. He has lived there from the beginning,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
