Afghanistan Taliban Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: Islamic State Militants Fire Rockets At Kabul Airport With Just Hours Left Before Aug 31 Deadline
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: For all the latest developments in the Afghanistan-Taliban crisis and the situation created around it follow ABP News LIVE blog to stay updated.
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Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE: Rockets fired at Kabul airport in waning hours of US pullout
Kabul (PTI | AP): Islamic State militants fired a volley of rockets at Kabul's rapidly emptying international airport on Monday, with just hours left before a deadline for U.S. forces to withdraw at the end of America's longest war.
The Pentagon is tight-lipped about final operations and has not specified when the withdrawal will be completed ahead of Tuesday's deadline. But spokesman John Kirby told reporters there is still time for Americans to join a massive airlift that has allowed more than 116,000 people to leave since the Taliban swept back into power two weeks ago.
All day Monday, U.S. military cargo jets came and went despite the rocket attack, which did not hurt anyone. The Taliban released a video shot from the airport's grounds, saying the Americans had removed or destroyed most of their equipment and that troop numbers were far lower. It looks like today will be the last day, one of the unidentified fighters said.
With the departure of the last of its troops, the U.S. is ending its 20-year war with the Taliban back in power. Many Afghans remain fearful of them or further instability, and there have been sporadic reports of killings and other abuses in areas under Taliban control despite pledges to restore peace and security.
In the last 24 hours, the American military evacuated about 1,200 people on 26 C-17 flights, while two coalition flights flew out 50 others, the White House said.
The two-week airlift has brought scenes of desperation and horror. In the early days, people desperate to flee Taliban rule flooded onto the tarmac and some fell to their deaths after clinging to a departing aircraft. On Thursday, an Islamic State suicide attack at an airport gate killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.
The extremist group is far more radical than the Taliban, who captured most of Afghanistan in a matter of days. The two groups have fought each other before, and the Taliban have pledged to not harbour terrorist groups.
The Taliban tightened their security cordon around the airport after the attack, clearing away massive crowds of Afghans who were desperate to flee the country in the waning days of the U.S.-led airlift. Taliban fighters are now stationed along a fence near the main runway.
A crowd quickly gathered Monday around the remains of a four-door sedan used in the rocket attack. The car had what appeared to be six homemade rocket tubes mounted in place of its back seats.
I was inside the house with my children and other family members. Suddenly there were some blasts," said Jaiuddin Khan, who lives nearby. "We jumped into the house compound and lay on the ground.
Some of the rockets landed across town, striking residential apartment blocks, witnesses said. That neighbourhood is about 3 kilometers (under 2 miles) from the airport. No injuries were reported.
Five rockets targeted the airport, said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a U.S. military spokesman. A defensive weapon known as a C-RAM a Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System targeted the rockets in a whirling hail of ammunition, he said. The system has a distinct, drill-like sound that echoed through the city at the time of the attack.
An IS statement, carried by the group's Amaq media outlet, claimed the militants fired six rockets.
The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the rocket attack.
The president was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA, and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground, the statement said, using an acronym for Kabul's airport.
Planes took off about every 20 minutes at one point Monday morning. One C-17 landing in the afternoon shot off flares as it approached a maneuver to protect against heat-seeking missiles and a sign the U.S. military remains concerned about surface-to-air missiles loose in the country.
Smoke from several fires along the airport's perimeter could be seen. It wasn't clear what was ablaze, although U.S. forces typically destroy material and equipment they don't take with them.
The airport had been one of the few ways out for foreigners and Afghans fleeing the Taliban. However, coalition nations have halted their evacuations in recent days, leaving the U.S. military largely alone there with some remaining allied Afghan forces.
The U.S. State Department released a statement Sunday signed by about 100 countries, as well as NATO and the European Union, saying they had received assurances from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave.
The Taliban have said they will allow normal travel after the U.S. withdrawal is completed on Tuesday and they take control of the airport. However, it is unclear how the militants will run the airport and which commercial carriers will begin flying in, given the ongoing security concerns.
Qatar confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that the Gulf country has been taking part in negotiations about operations at the airport with Afghan and international parties, mainly the U.S. and Turkey.
Qatar's Assistant Foreign Minister Lolwa al-Khater said its main priority is restoring regular operations while maintaining security at the airport. Qatar is a U.S. ally that has long hosted a Taliban political office.
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE: Threat To Kabul Airport Remains 'Real' And 'Specifi', Says Pentagon
Washington: The threat to Kabul airport remains "real" and "specific" as the United States winds down its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday, as reported by news agency AFP.
"We're in a particularly dangerous time right now," Kirby told reporters. "The threat stream is still real, it's still active, and in many cases it's still specific", US Army Major General Hank Taylor said more than 122,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul so far including 5,400 Americans," he said.
The United States is scheduled to complete the pullout of US troops from Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE: Islamic State claims responsibility for rocket attack on Kabul airport
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Kabul airport on Monday, the group's Nasher News said on its Telegram channel, Reuters reported.
As many as five rockets were fired at Kabul airport but were intercepted by a missile defense system, Reuters had quoted a US official as saying.
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE: IAF C-17 & C-130J Aircraft Deployed For Evacuation Ops Return To Home Bases
New Delhi (ANI): After helping in the evacuation of more than 500 Indians from Afghanistan, Indian Air Force (IAF) transport aircraft have returned to their respective home bases in the country.
The Indian Air Force had deployed its C-17 Globemasters and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft for evacuation operations of Indians stuck in Afghanistan, which is now under the reins of the Taliban.
"The C-17 and C-130J aircraft have returned to their respective bases after deployment in Tajikistan and Afghanistan for people stuck in Kabul and other cities of the war-torn country," sources told ANI.
India had stationed a few of its planes in Dushanbe at the Ayni airbase there. A C-130J was also used to bring passengers from Kabul to Dushanbe from where they were flown back to India. IAF aircraft were also used for evacuating Indian officials stuck in Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar consulates.
The operations after the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban were also carried out under extreme conditions as the runway had to be cleared for the plane to take off. The Garud commandos of the Air Force had joined hands with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel being evacuated from there to clear the path for allowing the C-17 to take off with the Indian officials including the Ambassador there, sources said.
"Aircraft from Air India were also used for bringing back people from Afghanistan to India. We have evacuated over 550 people in six separate flights, either from Kabul or Dushanbe. Of these, over 260 were Indians. The government of India also facilitated the evacuation of Indian nationals through other agencies. We were in touch with various countries, like the US, Tajikistan," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson had stated a couple of days ago.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that the Indian government is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals from Afghanistan. Afghanistan's situation is worsening as people are in rush to leave the nation after the Taliban seized control earlier this month. On August 15, the country's government fell, soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the nation.
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis: Taliban Must Fulfill Its Commitments In Deeds Not Words, Says US Amid Uncertainty
Washington(ANI): US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that Washington expects that the Taliban must "follow through" on its commitments.
These developments came after the Taliban previously made clear that "they would like to see an American diplomatic presence remain in Kabul," Pakistan Today reported citing Ned Price.
"We have heard a range of statements from the Taliban. Some of them have been positive, some of them have been constructive but ultimately what we will be looking for, what our international partners will be looking for are deeds, not words," Price added. Price also said that the US is not coordinating with the Haqqani network in Afghanistan.
The US had designated the Haqqani Network as a terrorist group in 2012, is now a part of the government in Afghanistan post the Taliban takeover of the war-torn country, said Jason Criss Howk, writing in Clearance Jobs.
During the discussion, Price also reaffirmed that the US military is leaving by August 31, as reported by Pakistan Times. US is "handing the [Hamid Karzai International] airport back to the Afghan people. What we are doing is trying to lay the diplomatic groundwork and the technical groundwork," he said.
After the hostile takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban has re-imposed repressive laws and retrograde policies on Afghan women that defined its 1996-2001 rule when they enforced their version of Islamic Sharia law. Experts believe that Afghan women are most likely to face an uncertain future under the terrorist group regime.
Sajjan Gohel, a security and terrorism analyst also said that women are scared out of the Taliban minds. (ANI)
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