Wrapup 7: U.S. attacks Islamic State after Afghan airport blast
28/08/2021 04:37
(Adds details on British withdrawal, NATO comment)
* Drone strike in province on Pakistan border
* Residents of Jalalabad city say they heard blasts at night
* U.S. Embassy says people should leave airport gates
immediately
* About 111,000 people evacuated
* Britain to end its evacuation on Saturday
Aug 28 (Reuters) - The United States attacked an Islamic
State "planner" in Afghanistan in retaliation for a deadly
bombing outside Kabul airport and said there was a high risk of
further blasts as it winds up its mission to evacuate civilians
and withdraw troops.
U.S. and allied forces have been racing to complete
evacuations of their citizens and vulnerable Afghans and
withdraw by the Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden
after two decades of American military presence in Afghanistan.
Thursday's suicide blast, claimed by the Afghan affiliate of
Islamic State, showed the peril of the mission, causing a
bloodbath outside the gates of the airport where thousands of
Afghans have gathered to try to get a flight out since the
Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug. 15.
The attack killed scores of Afghans and 13 U.S. service
members, the most lethal incident https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/didnt-need-happen-pentagon-seeks-answers-deadly-attack-2021-08-28
for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a decade.
President Joe Biden promised on Thursday that Washington
would go after the perpetrators, and U.S. Central Command said
the drone strike took place overnight in Nangarhar province,
east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan.
"Initial indications are that we killed the target," a U.S.
military statement said.
Spokesmen for the Taliban, which took over Afghanistan as
U.S. forces withdrew, did not comment on the drone strike.
The Taliban, hardline Islamist militants, are enemies of
Islamic State and have said they have arrested some suspects
involved in Thursday's airport blast.
The White House said the next few days were likely to be the
most dangerous https://www.reuters.com/world/us/advisers-warned-biden-significant-danger-ahead-afghan-mission-official-2021-08-27
of the evacuation operation. The United States and allies have
taken about 111,900 people out of Afghanistan in the past two
weeks, the Pentagon has said.
US officials said another attack against the Kabul airport
was a near certainty, and there were fears that it could be more
destructive than Thursday’s attack.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned Americans to avoid the
airport and said those at its gates should leave immediately.
U.S. media, including the New York Times, cited health
officials saying Thursday's blast had killed up to 170 people,
not including the U.S. troops. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PY1Z5
ALLIED COUNTRIES
Most of the more than 20 allied countries involved in
airlifting their citizens and Afghans out of Kabul said they had
completed evacuations https://www.reuters.com/world/evacuations-afghanistan-by-country-2021-08-26
by Friday.
Britain was ending its operation on Saturday, its armed
forces chief Nick Carter said, adding that the focus would then
turn to withdrawing British troops. A military transport plane
carrying British troops arrived back in England on Saturday
morning.
Carter said hundreds of people who had worked with Britain
would not make it through.
NATO's senior civilian representative to Afghanistan said
staff had done their best under almost impossible circumstances
and would do their best to bring out those left
behind. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PZ06T
A U.S. official said a reaper drone flown from the Middle
East struck an Islamic State militant who was planning attacks
and was in a car with an associate. Both are believed to have
been killed, the official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/what-is-islamic-state-afghanistan-2021-08-26)
is the Islamic State affiliate that claimed responsibility for
Thursday's bombing.
EXPLOSIONS
Residents of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, said they
had heard several explosions from an air strike around midnight,
though it was not clear they were caused by a U.S. drone.
In Jalalabad, community elder Malik Adib said three people
were killed and four were wounded in the air strike, adding that
he had been summoned by the Taliban investigating the incident.
"Women and children are among the victims,” said Adib,
though he did not have information about their identity.
The U.S. military statement said: "We know of no civilian
casualties."
A senior Taliban commander said some ISIS-K members had been
arrested in connection with the Kabul attack. "They are being
interrogated by our intelligence team," the commander said.
While Kabul's airport has been in chaos, the rest of the
city has been generally calm. The Taliban have told residents to
hand over government equipment including weapons and vehicles
within a week, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Some U.S. officials said https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/didnt-need-happen-pentagon-seeks-answers-deadly-attack-2021-08-28
the airport attack could have been avoided in the rushed
operation to withdraw troops and get out people at risk.
Biden was already facing criticism at home and abroad for
the chaos after Afghanistan's Western-backed government and
military collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance. He has
defended his decisions, saying the United States long ago
achieved its rationale for invading in 2001.
The U.S.-led invasion toppled the then-ruling Taliban,
punishing them for harbouring al Qaeda militants who
masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
The group's relations with the West should depend on how it
acts, Britain said. "Any recognition and engagement with the
Taliban must be conditional on them allowing safe passage for
those who want to leave the country and respecting human
rights," Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office quoted him as
saying.
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'Didn't need to happen': Pentagon seeks answers for deadly
attack urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PY1Z5
FACTBOX-Recent major attacks linked to Islamic State in
Afghanistan urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PX1R3
FACTBOX-What is Islamic State in Afghanistan? urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PX1W7
FACTBOX-Evacuations from Afghanistan by country urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PX0O4
GRAPHIC: Chaos in Kabul https://tmsnrt.rs/3stVpcj
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(Reporting by Reuters bureaus
Writing by Robert Birsel and Philippa Fletcher
Editing by William Mallard, Gerry Doyle and Frances Kerry)
((Robert.Birsel@thomsonreuters.com;))