22-08-21, 15:47
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#12
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re: TALIBAN/ISIS Kabul Airport Bomb Attack-Biden WARNS 'We Will Hunt You & Make You Pay'
Pentagon Orders Commercial Airlines to Help in Afghanistan Evacuations as Many are Crushed to Death in Stampede to Escape
US urges Americans to avoid Kabul airport amid security concerns including Isis threats
Thousands still trying to flee a week after Taliban takeover as president is briefed on operations in Afghanistan
Defense secretary: ‘We’re gonna try our very best to get everybody, every American citizen who wants to get out, out’
Ex-Afghan ambassador warns of women’s fate under Taliban
The Guardian UK, 22 AUG 2021.
US Marines are seen amid chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
After the US advised Americans in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to Kabul airport on Saturday, a Pentagon spokesman said the US had “a whole panoply of security concerns” around efforts to evacuate its citizens and Afghan allies. Another official said the Islamic State group was threatening to attack Americans in Afghanistan.
Thousands are still trying to flee, a week after the Taliban took control of the country.
The White House said Joe Biden discussed the security situation and counterterrorism operations, including against Isis in Afghanistan, with his national security team.
Vice-president Kamala Harris joined the meeting by video from Singapore. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also attended, as did the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin; Gen Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser; and Avirl Haines, the national intelligence director.
Speaking anonymously, a senior US official told the Associated Press that Isis threats against Americans were forcing the military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the Kabul airport. The official said small groups of Americans and possibly other civilians would be given specific instructions, including movement to transit points where they can be gathered up by the military.
Officials declined to provide more specifics about the Isis threat but described it as significant. They said there have been no confirmed attacks yet.
At a Pentagon briefing, spokesman John Kirby said he would not “detail threat assessments with the intelligence” but said the area around the airport was “very fluid and very dynamic”.
“What I would tell you is that we continue to have regular communication with Taliban leaders … particularly those that are manning or in charge of the checkpoints around the airport, that communication and deconfliction occurs.”
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