Afghan militants fired rockets at Kabul’s airport as the U.S. rushed to complete its evacuation mission in Afghanistan before Tuesday’s deadline to leave the country, with U.S. counter-rocket defenses deployed to intercept them.
While no group claimed immediate responsibility for Monday’s rocket attack, the U.S. has repeatedly warned of imminent threats by Islamic State. The Taliban are coordinating with the U.S. military during the handover.
The assault marks the latest upsurge in violence in the final days of the U.S.’s 20-year military presence in Afghanistan. It followed a U.S. drone strike Sunday that targeted suspected Islamic State suicide bombers who the Pentagon said sought to attack the airport, and a suicide bombing last week that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 200 Afghan civilians.
President Biden, briefed on the rocket attack, “has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground," the White House said. Flight operations at the U.S.-controlled airport continued uninterrupted, it added.
The U.S. military is expected to perform its last evacuations of civilians from the country on Monday, its last full day in Afghanistan, before remaining service members leave on Tuesday and hand full control of the airport to the Taliban.
The stepped-up attacks have prompted the U.S. to turn evacuees away from the airport, leaving thousands stranded in Kabul. On Sunday, hundreds of students of the American University of Afghanistan boarded buses at designated points in Kabul with plans to go to the airport. But after waiting for several hours, with more attacks deemed imminent, officials decided to abandon the operation.
“The extreme high risk at the gates is the reason for this decision," Dr. Arni Arnthorsson, vice president of student and institutional affairs for the university, wrote in an email to students under the subject line “operation canceled." “We will not be allowed into the airport."
An Afghanistan-based affiliate of Islamic State claimed responsibility for last week’s bombing at the airport. Monday’s rocket attack was launched from a Kabul neighborhood near the airport, using a vehicle that was modified into a rocket launcher, according to local news reports.
The launch apparently set the car on fire, and photos posted by local media showed a burned-out chassis with launcher tubes in the back of the vehicle.
After its departure from Afghanistan, the U.S. has reserved the right to strike at terrorists there from bases outside the country.
Pentagon officials said the drone strike was aimed at a vehicle carrying suspected suicide bombers. The U.S. believed it successfully struck the vehicle, but couldn’t say how many bombers were hit.
A senior Afghan health official, who also worked with the U.S.-backed government, said the Sunday strike killed five civilians and hit a house.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in Afghanistan, said it was aware of reports of civilian deaths and was “still assessing the results of this strike."
“We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties," Centcom said. “It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further."
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The Pentagon initially had said it wasn’t aware of civilian deaths from the strike.
The Biden administration said it remained committed to Afghanistan after Tuesday’s final withdrawal, even as the U.S. presence faded fast amid mounting security concerns.
America’s final exit from Afghanistan raises the prospect that thousands of Afghans who worked alongside American forces, diplomats and humanitarian groups could be left behind. It also compromises the international community’s ability to protect women and girls and certain religious minorities, which are considered particularly vulnerable to persecution by the Taliban regime.
On Sunday, Mr. Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with the grieving Gold Star families of the 13 service members who were killed in last week’s suicide bombing. The families were at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the arrival of their loved ones’ remains, and the president, Dr. Biden, top military leaders and members of the national security team were at the airfield as troops removed the transfer cases from the military aircraft.
Later in the day, at a briefing on Hurricane Ida at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters, Mr. Biden spoke briefly about the deceased and their families.
“While we’re praying for the best in Louisiana, let’s keep them in our prayers as well," Mr. Biden said. He declined to take questions on Afghanistan.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text
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