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US starts troop withdrawal from Kabul; hits Islamic State with drone

2021-08-29 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

KABUL (REUTERS) - United States President Joe Biden warned on Saturday (Aug 28) that another militant attack was highly likely as American troops began leaving Kabul airport after a two-week scramble by Washington and its allies to evacuate citizens and at-risk Afghans.

As Washington neared the end of its military involvement in the country, with the Taleban militants it ousted 20 years ago back in power, the US said it killed two Islamic State militants planning attacks in Afghanistan after a deadly suicide bombing outside the airport on Thursday.

American officials also warned of a high risk of more attacks by the group - enemies of both the West and Afghanistan's new Taleban rulers - as US forces wind up their mission before a Tuesday deadline set by Mr Biden.

The President said the situation on the ground remained "extremely dangerous" and that military commanders had told him an attack was highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours.

After Thursday's blast that killed scores of Afghans and 13 American troops, the most lethal incident for US service members in Afghanistan in a decade, Mr Biden vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. He said Friday's strike was not the last.

"We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay," he said.

The Taleban condemned the overnight US drone strike, which took place in Nangarhar province, an eastern area that borders Pakistan.

"The Americans should have informed us before conducting the air strike. It was a clear attack on Afghan territory," a Taleban spokesman said, adding that two women and a child were wounded in the attack.

The Taleban said it has arrested some suspects involved in the airport blast.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said the Taleban would take over the airport "very soon", after US forces withdraw, and announce a full Cabinet in the coming days.

The Western-backed government and Afghan army melted away as the hardline Islamist militants entered the capital on Aug 15, leaving an administrative vacuum that has bolstered fears of a financial collapse and widespread hunger.

Mr Mujahid said the group has appointed governors and police chiefs in all but one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and would act to solve the country's economic problems.

A US official said on Saturday that there were fewer than 4,000 troops left at the airport, down from 5,800 at the peak of the evacuation mission. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby later confirmed to reporters that the withdrawal has begun, but declined to say how many service members remained.

US service members assisting the Department of State with an evacuation operation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug 21, 2021. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Thursday's suicide blast, claimed by ISIS-K, the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State, caused a bloodbath outside the gates of the airport, where thousands of Afghans have gathered to try to get a flight out since the Taleban returned to power.

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 overthrew the then-ruling Taleban as punishment for harbouring the Al-Qaeda militants behind the Sept 11 attacks that year.

The Taleban, facing the loss of billions of dollars of aid for the country, appealed to the US and other Western nations to maintain diplomatic relations after their withdrawal; Britain said that should happen only if the Taleban allows safe passage for those who want to leave and respects human rights.

Dangerous final days

The White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the evacuation operation. The US and allies have taken about 113,500 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks, it added.

US military and allied countries' flights carried fewer people on Saturday as Washington prepared to end its mission.

With another attack against Kabul airport a near certainty, said US officials, the US Embassy in Kabul warned Americans to avoid the area.

The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan left Kabul on Saturday.

British troops would take small numbers of Afghan citizens with them as they leave this weekend, a defence ministry spokesman said. Armed forces chief Nick Carter said hundreds of people who worked with Britain would not make it through.

In the Pentagon's strike on militant suspects in Nangarhar, a US official said on Friday that an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft flown from the Middle East targeted an Islamic State militant who was planning attacks and was in a car with an associate.