US military officials confirmed that "several" ISIS terrorists were killed on their way to carry out another attack at Kabul airport. US Navy Captain Bill Urban said: "We are confident we successfully hit the target." He added that secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the attackers had a "substantial amount of explosive material" with them.

       The Taliban confirmed the strike, with a senior member telling the Daily Telegraph that the group "welcomed" the American drone operation.

       However, later a Taliban spokesman told CNN that they condemned the attack as a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty.

       Reports have emerged that civilians, including a child, were killed during the strike.

       This is the second operation that the US military has carried out against the ISIS militants, since the Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 US service personnel.

       On Saturday, another drone strike killed two masterminds behind the Thursday bombings.

       The ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan is known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

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       The group was set up in January 2015 at the height of IS' power in Iraq and Syria.

       The affiliate is considered to be the most extreme and violent of all jihadist militant groups in Afghanistan.

       It comes as Pakistan's national security adviser urged the West to engage constructively with the new Afghan regime.

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       Moeed Yusuf told an audience during a speech at the Conservative think tank Policy Exchange that the international community should use economic incentives to persuade the Taliban to create an "inclusive government".

       He argued that if the West repeated its mistakes from the 1990s, then it would create a security vacuum that would see a resurgence of Islamic militancy, first in Pakistan and then in the West.

       “If the world repeats the mistakes of the 90s, the results will not be better than last time," he said.