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Several rockets were fired at the Kabul airport, witnesses and security sources said, less than 48 hours before the United States completed the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden was informed of the rocket attack at the Kabul airport and the fact that its “operations continue unabated,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.
“The president has been informed that operations in HKIA continue unabated and has reaffirmed his order for commanders to redouble their efforts to prioritize everything necessary to protect our forces,” Psaki said in a statement.
Biden set a deadline Tuesday to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan and end the longest US war that began in retaliation for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
People, frightened by the Taliban Islamist movement that it toppled 20 years ago but took power again two weeks ago, are in a hurry to leave the country on US-led evacuation flights.
More than 114,000 people have already flown from Kabul airport on those flights. people. The evacuation operation will officially end on August 31, when the last of thousands of US troops will leave Afghanistan.
But US forces are now focusing on the safe evacuation of US soldiers and diplomats.
The biggest threat to the operation is the Islamic State (IS) group, a Taliban rival that carried out a deadly attack near the airport late last week that claimed more than 100 lives, including 13 US troops.
Biden warned that more attacks are likely, and the United States said a vehicle was hit by a drone Sunday night over “explosive deaths” from an Islamic State branch in Afghanistan as it headed to the Kabul airport.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed that the US military struck a former mortal in a vehicle on Sunday who wanted to carry out an attack at Kabul International Airport, where the Americans are in a rush to complete the evacuation.
He also reported a possible second hit at a nearby home.
The missing rockets were heard across Kabul on Monday morning, just before rush hour, reported AFP reporters in the city.
A security official, who worked in the ousted administration in the middle of this month, said those missiles were fired from a single vehicle in the northern part of the capital.
People living near the airport said they heard the missile defense system being activated. Locals also reported fragments falling on the road, indicating that at least one missile had been intercepted.
In the north of Kabul, where the airport is located, smoke was rising above the buildings.
“Potential loss of innocent lives”
The United States is accused of killing large numbers of civilians during the airstrikes. This is one of the reasons that Americans have lost the support of the locals. Civilian casualties were probably again unavoidable on Sunday.
“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our attack on a vehicle in Kabul today,” Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for the United States General Staff, said in a statement.
According to him, the US military is investigating the presence of civilian victims. Urban noted that there had been a “powerful” explosion that had rocked the rocket when it struck a vehicle.
“We would be very saddened by any possible loss of innocent life,” he said.
The Islamic State branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been blamed for some of the bloodiest attacks in those countries in recent years. IS fighters attacked civilians in sanctuaries, squares and even hospitals.
Although both the IS fighters and the Taliban are radical Sunnis, these movements are stubborn opponents and both claim to be true jihadist flags.
A bomb blast at the airport last week became the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since 2011.
The threat from the Islamic State forced the US military and the Taliban to work together to ensure security at the airport, although it would have seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago.
On Saturday, Taliban fighters escorted Afghans from buses to the airport’s main passenger terminal, where they were taken by US evacuation soldiers.
Taliban leader
The Taliban promise that this time their government will be more moderate compared to the previous Taliban regime, which was overthrown by the US military because it granted al Qaeda asylum.
But many Afghans fear that the Taliban will reintroduce a brutal Sharia regime, as well as brutal revenge against those who have collaborated with foreign forces, Western missions or the former US-backed government.
Western allies have warned that many thousands of Afghans at risk have been unable to evacuate the country.
On Sunday, the Taliban revealed that their top leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, is in southern Afghanistan and plans to appear in public.
“It is in Kandahar. He has lived there from the beginning, “said Zabihullah Mujahide, a Taliban spokesman.
“He will appear in public soon,” added another Taliban spokesman, Bilal Karimi, about the top leader, whose whereabouts are unknown until now.
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