US strikes IS planners after Kabul attack

Acting on President Joe Biden’s promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the United States conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee moved into its fraught final stages with fresh terror attack warnings

Acting on President Joe Biden’s promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the United States conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee moved into its fraught final stages with fresh terror attack warnings.

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US forces overseeing the evacuation have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of the suicide bombing that killed scores of civilians crowded around one of the airport’s main access gates and 13 American troops.

The attack was claimed by a regional Islamic State chapter, called the Islamic State-Khorasan, and the Pentagon announced that two members of the jihadist group were killed in the drone strike in eastern Afghanistan.

“It was a single mission to get these targets and as the assessments and information flowed over time, we were able to recognise that another was killed as well and one wounded,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at a Defense Department briefing on Saturday.

“They were ISIS-K planners and facilitators and that’s enough reason there alone. I won’t speak to the details of these individuals and what their specific roles might be,” Kirby said. He added: “We have the ability and the means to carry over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities and we’re going to defend ourselves.’’

He declined to identify those killed but said the United States knew who they were. US Central Command said it believed its strike killed no civilians.

The airstrike came after Biden declared on Thursday that perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said.

The US President authorised the drone strike and it was ordered by defence secretary Lloyd Austin, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The airstrike was launched from beyond Afghanistan and the Central Command said it was conducted in Nangarhar province.

The speed with which the US military retaliated reflected its close monitoring of IS and years of experience in targeting extremists in remote parts of the world. But it also shows the limits of US power to eliminate extremist threats, which some believe will have more freedom of movement in Afghanistan now that the Taliban is in power.

“We have options there right now,” said Major General Hank Taylor of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

Spokesmen for the Taliban, which took over Afghanistan as US 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.

EVACUATIONS WIND DOWN

Later on Saturday, Pentagon said US troops have begun their withdrawal from Kabul airport as the evacuation efforts from the Afghan capital entered their final stages.

With the airlift window narrowing sharply ahead of an August 31 deadline, thousands remained inside Kabul airport awaiting evacuation on Saturday.

Gone are the crowds of thousands around the airport’s perimeter, hoping to be let through and allowed onto a plane. Now, the Taliban have sealed off roads leading to the airport and are only letting sanctioned buses pass.

“We have lists from the Americans... if your name is on the list, you can come through,” one Taliban official told AFP near the civilian passenger terminal.

The carnage of Thursday’s suicide attack injected further stress and tension into a situation already fraught with panic and despair for those wanting to leave and high risk for the US forces tasked with securing the operation.

Based on a preliminary assessment, US officials believe the suicide vest used in the attack, which killed at least 169 Afghans in addition to the 13 Americans, carried about 25 pounds of explosives and was loaded with shrapnel. A suicide bomb typically carries five to 10 pounds of explosives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary assessments of the bombing.

FUTURE ATTEMPTS

The bombing followed a chorus of warnings about an imminent threat and, as people gathered outside the airport on Saturday, the US issued a fresh alert for its citizens to leave areas around the main gates “immediately”.

At the White House, President Joe Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said US national security experts consider another attack is “likely” and the next few days will be “the most dangerous period to date”.

Taliban spokesperson Bilal Karimi tweeted that the group’s fighters had already moved into parts of the military side of Kabul airport, but the Pentagon stressed that US forces retained control over the gates and airlift operations.

Racing to meet the Tuesday withdrawal deadline has required close cooperation with the Taliban on evacuee movements and the IS threat. The head of US forces at Hamid Karzai International, Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, is in constant contact with the Taliban official overseeing security around the airport.

Biden still faces the problem over the longer term of containing an array of potential extremist threats based in Afghanistan, which will be harder with fewer US intelligence assets and no military presence in the nation.

Emily Harding, a former CIA analyst and deputy staff director for the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she doubted Biden’s assurances that the US will be able to monitor and strike terror threats from beyond Afghanistan’s borders. The Pentagon also insists this so-called “over the horizon” capability, which includes surveillance and strike aircraft based in the Persian Gulf area, will be effective.

RFUGEE EXODUS

Under enormous criticism at home and abroad for his handling of the Afghan crisis and the US military withdrawal, Biden has pledged to stick to the airlift deadline and punish those responsible for the suicide blast.

About 109,000 people have been flown out of the country since August 14, the day before the Taliban swept to power, according to the US government on Saturday.

Many Western allies have announced an end to their airlifts, with some admitting that at-risk Afghans eligible for evacuation had been left behind.

The United Nations said it was bracing for a “worst-case scenario” of up to half a million more refugees from Afghanistan by the end of 2021.