Hours before drone strike, US said Biden doesn't want Kabul attackers to 'live on earth anymore'

US President Joe Biden had earlier to vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of the suicide bombing outside Kabul airport that killed dozens of Afghans and 13 US Marines.

Hours before the United States confirmed a counterterrorism operation against an ISIS-K planner, the White House said that President Joe Biden does not want the people behind the Kabul airport attack to “live on the earth anymore.” Biden had earlier to vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of the suicide bombing outside Kabul airport that killed dozens of Afghans and 13 US Marines.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this - we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” Biden had said.

A reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki the next day what the president exactly meant when he said “we will hunt you down and make you pay.”

“I think he made clear yesterday that he does not want them to live on the earth anymore,” Psaki replied.

Watch: US drone strike on ISIS terrorist over Kabul airport attack after Biden's vow | Afghanistan

A few hours later, a US Central Command spokesperson released a statement saying the military launched a drone strike against a planner of ISIS-K, the terror group that took responsibility for the deadly attacks in Kabul.

“U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” the statement read.

The US department of defense has acknowledged continued “specific” and “credible” threats to the evacuation operations in Afghanistan. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Friday that the United States is monitoring the threats “virtually, in real-time.”

“We still believe there are credible threats. In fact, I'd say specific, credible threats, and we want to make sure we're prepared for those,” Kirby said.

“We have additional information...what you're seeing us act on, to the degree we can talk about, it is based on information that we have, and I think, I think I’d like it at that,” he added.