U.S. Marines take a minute to rest at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint throughout an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2021.
United States Marines|Reuters
WASHINGTON– President Joe Biden stated in a declaration Saturday that his nationwide security group alerted an attack at the airport in Kabul 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,” Biden stated, including that he directed U.S. leaders to “take every possible measure to prioritize force protection.”
Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie, leader of U.S. Central Command, informed press reporters Thursday that ISIS is most likely to attempt to continue attacks prior to the evacuations conclude.
“We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks and we expect those attacks to continue,” the four-star basic informed press reporters at the Pentagon, including that the U.S. was keeping an eye on an “extremely active threat stream against the airfield.”
McKenzie, who manages U.S. military operations in the area, stated the risks versus Western forces and civilians at the airport varied from shooting to rockets to suicide battles.
“So very, very real threat streams, what we would call tactical that means imminent, could occur at any moment,” he stated. McKenzie stated that he did not anticipate asking for extra U.S. soldiers for the objective.
The newest danger evaluation follows a U.S. drone strike on Friday that eliminated 2 prominent ISIS-K members 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 stated of the drone strike. “This strike was not the last,” he included. “We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay,” the president stated.
The U.S. strike came less than 2 days after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive near evictions of Kabul’s airport, leading to the deaths of 13 American service members.
The Pentagon stated Saturday that the strike targeted 2 ISIS-K members thought to be associated with preparing attacks versus U.S. forces inKabul ArmyMaj Gen. William Taylor stated that there were no recognized civilian casualties following the strike.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby stated that the U.S. did not inform nor collaborate with the Taliban ahead of the strike. He included that the Defense Department did not inform other nations in the area nor U.S. legislators.
The Pentagon likewise verified that the U.S. armed force in Kabul has actually started its retrograde, or withdrawal, procedure from the nation. Kirby stated that less than 5,000 service members stay in the nation, including that the U.S. would no longer supply a precise number due to security conditions.
In the last 24 hours, Western forces left 6,800 individuals out of Kabul on 66 military freight airplane flights. Since the mass evacuations started on August 14, around 111,900 individuals have actually been airlifted out of Afghanistan.
About 117,500 individuals have actually been left considering that completion of July, consisting of about 5,400 U.S. people and their households.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated Friday that around 500 Americans are still looking for evacuation.
