Kabul airport bombings: US braces for further attacks — live updates
- Pentagon on high alert for further terrorist attacks in Kabul
- At least 95 civilians killed and 140 injured in twin blasts outside Kabul airport
- At least 13 US troops have been killed, Pentagon says
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All Bundeswehr soldiers back safely in Germany from evacuations
This article was last updated at 7:38 GMT/UTC.
Turkey starts talks with the Taliban
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that talks lasted over three hours and that Ankara would hold further discussions “if necessary.” The Taliban made a proposal on the running of Kabul airport.
“They say, ‘We’ll ensure security and you can operate it.’ But we have not made a decision yet because there is always a possibility of death and such things there,” Erdogan told reporters.
Catch up with DW content on Afghanistan
Twin bombing attacks at Kabul airport on Thursday killed scores of people, including Afghan civilians and US soldiers. Read the full story here.
Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate group, Islamic State Khorasan, has claimed responsibility for the Kabul airport bombing. The group already has a record of lethal attacks and says that the ultraconservative Taliban is too moderate. Read DW’s explainer on Islamic State Khorasan here .
Germany ended its rescue operation from Kabul airport on Thursday, five days ahead of the August 31 final deadline. The threat of an attack was one of the reasons behind the early withdrawal. Find out more here.
The US and allies scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of Afghan and foreign citizens from Kabul after the capital fell to the Taliban almost two weeks ago. DW rounds up some of the most dramatic pictures below.
Pakistan reserves hotels for evacuees
Authorities in the Pakistani capital Islamabad have asked local hotels to book out all available rooms for the next three weeks to make them available for people being evacuated from Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said that Afghan interpreters who had worked with foreign militaries and are trying to leave the country, would be brought to Pakistan. Plans have been drawn up to host them in Karachi and towns in Peshawar and Punjab.
UK to end evacuations on Friday
Britain says that it plans to complete its evacuations out of Afghanistan “in a matter of hours.”
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the country had completed the processing of people at Kabul airport, telling Sky News that about 1,000 people are currently in the airfield awaiting departure.
Britain has advised fleeing Afghans to try to cross the border to neighboring countries like Pakistan and Iran. London says it is trying to set up processing centers in those countries to help those applying for resettlement to the UK.
Germany carried out its last flight on Thursday, having safely evacuated over 5,300 people, including more than 3,600 Afghans.
The last Afghan evacuees from Kabul airport have arrived in Germany
Spain and Norway ended their evacuations Friday. Two military planes carrying the last 81 Spaniards out of Kabul arrived in Dubai early on Friday morning, El Pais newspaper said.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has insisted the US mission to get Afghan allies out “will go on.” But he cited the threat of terrorist attacks as a reason to keep to his Tuesday deadline for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
US veterans react to Kabul attack
US veterans have reacted to the suicide attacks in Kabul, calling the deaths of 85 people including 13 US soldiers “absolutely heartbreaking.”
“Everybody that’s got someone over there is just sitting there wondering, ‘Was it my son, was it my daughter, was it my husband, was it my father?'” Colonel Rob Campbell, who served in Afghanistan, told WECT TV in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see what’s going on given the sacrifices that American men and women have done over the last 20-plus years,” said former marine raider Chayse Roth, who also served in the war-torn country.
Another ex-serviceman, central-Florida-based Donn Weaver told News 6 that the attacks reminded him of the moment in Sept 2010 when he drove to the airport to collect the body of his son who was killed in Afghanistan.
“My heart goes out to them [relatives of the victims] because there is no way to describe it, the reality doesn’t sink,” Weaver said.
“I had hoped it wouldn’t happen, somehow nobody miraculously would be killed getting out, but I knew people would die or be tortured,” he said.
‘IS’ still posing a threat in Kabul
DW spoke to Swiss journalist Franz Marty in Kabul. Marty said that at least 90 people have died in the attack, with a further 150 wounded.
He explained that while Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the first bombing, which has been confirmed by the Pentagon as a suicide attack, details surrounding the second explosion remain unclear.
“There have been warnings that more attacks could come,” Marty said. He also reported that sources had told him of further IS militants in Kabul who have the intention of carrying out more attacks.
But it can be difficult to know how seriously to take the threats. “In Kabul there have always been threat warnings and after an attack it is not always clear if the warnings of further attacks are out of fear rather than intelligence,” he said.
In Kabul, people have become used to suicide attacks, but part of the reaction there now is outrage over the media’s focus on the deaths of US soldiers rather than the much higher Afghan death toll, Marty added. This “reinforces the feeling among Afghans that Afghan lives don’t matter and that it is only about the foreigners,” he said.
German defense minister arrives in Tashkent
Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has arrived in the Uzbek capital Tashkent along with General Eberhard Zorn. They met with the German soldiers who had been deployed to Kabul airport to aid with the evacuation operation.
Germany ended its rescue missions on Thursday and has evacuated all of its staff and military personnel.
UK left sensitive documents behind at Kabul embassy
Staff from the UK’s Kabul Embassy reportedly left behind sensitive documents showing the contact details of several locals who had applied to work for them. The papers were found scattered on the ground of the compound after it was taken by the Taliban, British newspaper The Times said.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office told Reuters that “every effort” had been made to destroy sensitive documents as personnel rushed to leave Kabul amid the deteriorating situation.
The Times said it had handed over the information of three Afghan staff as well as eight family members to the UK authorities.
“Crucially we have now been able to get these three families to safety”, a Foreign Office spokesperson told Reuters late on Thursday.
DW talks to evacuees arriving in Germany
More than 4,000 Afghans have been flown out of Kabul by the German military. Some of the last evacuees arrived at Frankfurt airport on Friday morning.
DW spoke to some of the arrivals. One of them spoke of waiting at the airport for days and just making it out before the bombing attack that happened right where he had been earlier in the day.
“We spent four days at the airport in Kabul, there was nothing to eat or drink. We nearly despaired. We wondered if we’d ever make it out. Today I thought to myself, if I don’t make a flight, I’ll go home, then luckily I managed to get on one,” the Afghan man said.
“I’m so scared because my family is still in Kabul. I’m frightened because I don’t know what will happen to them,” another told DW.
Controlled explosion at Kabul airport
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that more blasts had been heard at the airport on Friday morning, but that these were controlled explosions carried out by US forces, he said.
The Taliban also condemned Thursday’s bombing attack saying that the group was very concerned about the “security and protection” of its people. The Taliban is opposed to the Islamic State Khorasan group that claimed responsibility for the attack.
Evacuation flight lands in Albania
A group of Afghans on an evacuation flight from Kabul have landed in Albania early on Friday, according to an Albanian government spokesperson. Some 171 Afghans were expected on the plane.
The Afghans will be temporarily lodged in hotels in the Albanian town of Durres, as they wait for visas to the United States.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said the country could welcome up to 4,000 Afghans who will eventually go to the US.
All Bundeswehr soldiers safely in Germany
Members of the German military who were deployed for evacuations in Kabul have returned safely to Germany, according to the German Ministry of Defense.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, along with other German officials, are expected to meet with the soldiers on Friday.
Around 600 soldiers were deployed for the evacuations in Kabul.
The Defense Ministry said extending its evacuations from Afghanistan was not possible due to the deteriorating security situation in Kabul.
White House: More than 100,000 evacuated since Taliban takeover
The White House said in a statement Thursday that more than 100,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban took over on August 14.
It’s estimated that as many as 1,000 Americans are still stranded in Kabul. Thousands of Afghans who worked with the US military are also stuck in the country, according to the International Rescue Committee.
President Joe Biden has decided to stick with a plan to remove all troops from the country by August 31.
Australia says all troops pulled out prior to Kabul attack
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said Friday that all Australian troops had left Afghanistan prior to the attack on Kabul airport.
“I’m very pleased and relieved that our soldiers have departed from Kabul,” Dutton told the Australian Channel 9 network. “We took the decision to lift the last of our people yesterday and they are safely in the United Arab Emirates.”
“It’s a horrible, horrible day, and I just grieve like every decent person would at the loss of life, and in particular for us the loss of American lives,” Dutton said in the wake of the attack.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the “despicable” attack in Kabul and said the country’s last evacuation flight left prior to the explosions.
US President Joe Biden vows to strike ‘IS’
In a televised speech Thursday evening, President Joe Biden said US military is in the process of developing “operational plans to strike IS leadership, assets and facilities,” following a bombing outside Kabul airport that killed 12 US service members, along with at least 60 Afghan civilians.
The Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, known as IS-K claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission,” Biden told reporters. “We will continue the evacuation.”
“We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said, referring to those responsible.
The president said there was no evidence that IS-K colluded with the Taliban to carry out the attack.
President Biden also said US forces would continue evacuation of US citizens and Afghan allies and would meet the August 31 pullout deadline.
He defended his decision to end the US combat mission in the country: “It was time to end a 20-year war.”
What happened at Kabul airport?
Terror group “Islamic State” (IS) said in a statement that it was behind the deadly twin suicide bombings at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday afternoon.
US military officials also confirmed that IS was responsible for the attack.
General Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the US airlift in Kabul will continue, adding that the two bombers were “assessed to have been ISIS fighters.”
“We continue to execute our number one mission, which is to get as many evacuees and citizens out of Afghanistan,” said General McKenzie.
“ISIS will not deter us from accomplishing the mission,” he said, adding that US forces were “prepared and ready to defend against” further IS attacks.
Earlier, McKenzie had confirmed that 12 American service members were killed in, the bombings and 15 others were injured.
The death toll makes it one of the deadliest incidents for American troops for the entire 20-year war in Afghanistan.
Thousands of people have been gathering outside the building over the past several days in a desperate attempt to flee on an evacuation flight.
One blast hit the airport’s Abbey Gate, while the other targeted a nearby hotel. McKenzie said the explosions were followed by a gunfight, and that efforts to evacuate about 1,000 US citizens estimated to still be in the country would continue.
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/kabul-airport-bombings-us-braces-for-further-attacks-live-updates/a-58996766?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf