Washington:US President Joe Biden on Saturday (local time) warned that another terror attack at Kabul airport is "highly likely in the next 24-36 hours". "The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours," Biden said in a statement. The remarks come after a suicide bomber and multiple ISIS-K gunmen killed 13 US service members and at least 169 Afghan civilians in the attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday.
"This morning, I met with my national security team in Washington and my commanders in the field. We discussed the strike that US forces took last night against the terrorist group ISIS-K in Afghanistan. I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have," Biden's statement read.
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"This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay. Whenever anyone seeks to harm the United States or attack our troops, we will respond. That will never be in doubt." Finally, he paid tribute to the US troops who had died: "The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others."
"Despite the treacherous situation in Kabul, we are continuing to evacuate civilians. Yesterday, we brought out another 6,800 people, including hundreds of Americans. And today, we discussed the ongoing preparations to help people continue to leave Afghanistan after our military departs," he said.
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The US Embassy in Afghanistan is urging Americans to leave the Kabul airport area because of a specific threat in Afghanistan. "Due to a specific, credible threat, all U.S. citizens in the vicinity of Kabul airport (HKIA), including the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior, and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport, should leave the airport area immediately," the embassy said in a security alert on Saturday (local time). US citizens are being urged to avoid travelling to the airport and avoid all airport gates at this time.
On alert for new terror attacks, the U.S. military has begun its final withdrawal from Afghanistan in the closing stages of a frantic airlift of Americans, Afghans and others desperate to escape Taliban rule before the evacuation shuts down. The remains of 13 American troops killed in an airport attack Thursday by members of the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate, known as ISIS-K, were on their way to the United States, the Pentagon said Saturday. Their voyage marked a painful moment in a nearly 20-year American war that cost more than 2,400 U.S. military lives and is ending with the return to power of a Taliban movement that was ousted when U.S. forces invaded in 2001.
The US has evacuated approximately 2,000 people from the Kabul airport in the last 24 hours, the White House has said. From August 28 at 3:00 AM EDT to August 28 at 3:00 PM EDT, a total of approximately 2,000 people were evacuated from Kabul. This is the result of 11 U.S. military flights (11 C-17s), which carried approximately 1,400 evacuees, and 7 coalition flights, which carried 600 people, the White House said on Saturday. Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 113,500 people. Since the end of July, it has re-located approximately 119,000 people, it said.
ANI/PTI
