Afghanistan Taliban Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: Islamic State Militants Fire Rockets At Kabul Airport With Just Hours Left Before Aug 31 Deadline
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
Kabul (ANI/Sputnik) - The death toll from a US drone attack near the Kabul airport has climbed to 12, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. CNN initially reported that the attack had claimed the lives of nine civilians, including six children.
On Sunday, media reported that the US Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban confirmed an airstrike on a car filled with explosives, prompted by the alleged threat of the Islamic State-Khorasan terrorist group.
The terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the bombings at the Kabul airport on Thursday, which killed 13 American soldiers and more than 170 other people.
The only international airport in Afghanistan has recently been the centre of rapid evacuations carried out by several countries, who have elected to fly their citizens, diplomatic missions, and associated Afghan nationals out of the country after the Taliban (banned in Russia) takeover.
London (IANS): The withdrawal of US forces and return of the Taliban in Afghanistan has stoked much fear and dejection among research scientists who predict huge losses not only in terms of funding but also of science.
During their reign from 1996-2001, the fundamentalist group brutally enforced a conservative version of Islamic Sharia law, characterised by women's-rights violations and suppression of freedom of expression, Nature reported.
But after they were overthrown in 2001 by a US-led coalition and a new government elected in 2004, international funding including from the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development and other organisations poured into Afghanistan and universities thrived.
Since 2001, research progressed, enrolment of female students as well as research burgeoned on topics from cancer to geology.
But with the regime now taking over again, scientists fear for their lives and the future of research. While many are fleeing out of the country, those who remain face lack of funding and the threat of persecution for being involved in international collaborations, or because of their fields of study or their ethnicity, the report said.
News reports claim that billions of dollars in overseas finance for Afghanistan's government, such as assets held by the US Federal Reserve and credit from the International Monetary Fund, have been frozen.
"The future is very uncertain," geologist Hamidullah Waizy, a researcher at Kabul Polytechnic University was quoted as saying.
"The achievements we had over the past 20 years are all at great risk,a added Attaullah Ahmadi, a public-health scientist at Kateb University in Kabul.
In the last 20 years, some three dozen public universities have been established or re-established since 2010, and tens more private universities have been set up.
Even the student population at public universities grew to 170,000 in 2018 from 8,000 in 2001, and one-quarter of these were women, the report said.
Further, the number of research papers also increased to 285 in 2019 from 71 in 2011, according to Scopus - a database of peer-reviewed literature.
But now "there will be a stagnation of science and research progress", Shakardokht Jafari, a medical physicist at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, who is originally from Afghanistan.
While many researchers have gone into hiding, or plan to cross into neighbouring countries, some are also seeking asylum overseas. In August alone, humanitarian organization Scholars at Risk (SAR) in New York City received more than 500 applications from people in Afghanistan, the report said.
So far, 164 institutions globally have agreed to host scholars, and SAR has appealed to US and European governments to fast-track visas and continue evacuation flights, said Rose Anderson, director at SAR.
However, several researchers report that the Taliban is in discussion with university heads about restarting classes. There are also suggestions that women might be allowed to continue their studies, although the Taliban has ordered that women and men be taught separately, and some universities have proposed introducing partitions in classrooms, the report said.
The international community, including the US, should "guide" the Taliban in Afghanistan and provide economic and humanitarian aid, Chinese state councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. "While respecting the sovereignty of Afghanistan, the US should take concrete action to help Afghanistan fight terrorism and stop violence, rather than playing double standards or fighting terrorism selectively,” Wang said, as per a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
An Indian Army general said on Sunday said the security situation in the Kashmir valley is under control and there is nothing to worry about on concerns about the possible fallout of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
“This is a playground and I do not want to comment about the outsiders. But remember, the security situation here (Kashmir) is in our control and there is nothing to worry about it,” said Lieutenant General DP Pandey, the General Officer Commanding of the Army’s 15 Corps. He was responding to a question on potential security challenges in Kashmir after Taliban claimed control of the war torn country.
The Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada — who has never made a public appearance and whose whereabouts have largely remained unknown — is in Afghanistan, the hardline Islamist group confirmed on Sunday.
“He is present in Kandahar. He has been living there from the very beginning,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. “He will soon appear in public,” added deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi, reported the Dawn.
The White House has confirmed rocket attack at Kabul airport
The Taliban has assured 100 countries that it will continue to allow foreigners and Afghans with foreign travel papers to leave the country "in a safe and orderly manner," even after the US troop withdrawal ends Tuesday, the countries said in a statement Sunday, reports AFP.
The 100-nation group includes the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
"We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country," the statement said.
Several rockets heard flying over Kabul, targets unclear, says news agency AFP, hours after US drone strike targeted car bomb
Several Afghans, including children, were killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan's Kabul on Sunday that the US said killed an Islamic State suicide car bomber suspected of preparing to attack the airport in the capital city, according to reports. CNN reported citing relatives and a local journalist that nine members of one family, including six children, were killed in the strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighbourhood of Kabul. The youngest child was a two-year-old girl, the brother of one of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.
Background
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: The United States said it destroyed an explosive-laden vehicle with an airstrike in Kabul on Sunday, hours after President Joe Biden warned of another terror attack in the capital as a massive airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans entered its last days.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed the incident, saying a car bomb destined for the airport had been destroyed -- and that a possible second strike had hit a nearby house.
The US said it had only struck the vehicle, but added that secondary blasts indicated "a substantial amount of explosive material".
The US air strike came after a suicide bomber from the ISIS group on Thursday targeted US troops stopping huge crowds of people from entering Kabul's airport. About 114,000 people have been evacuated since August 15, when the Taliban swept back into power.
More than 100 people died in the attack, including 13 US service personnel. Biden traveled Sunday to an air force base in Delaware to attend the somber ritual transfer of their remains.
The United States is investigating whether civilians may have been killed in an airstrike it launched to destroy a car laden with explosives in the Afghan capital Kabul, a spokesman for US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Sunday.
According to TOLOnews, The Taliban has criticised the US airstrikes on Kabul. The United States is exaggerating the presence of the Islamic State (Daesh) in Afghanistan, said Abdulhaq Wasiq, a member of the Taliban’s political office.
Wasiq, in reaction to the US military's drone strike in Nangarhar against Daesh on Friday, said the United States has no right to carry out attacks in Afghanistan.
On Sunday afternoon another US airstrike targeted a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Daesh, US officials said.
“The world made Daesh important. Daesh will not last in Afghanistan,” Wasiq said.
According to Wasiq, the US military’s airstrikes in Afghanistan are contrary to the Doha deal signed by the United States and the Taliban.
“We have signed an agreement with Americans in Doha regarding this and the attack is against the agreement. Based on the agreement, they are not allowed to interfere in Afghanistan affairs after their withdrawal,” Wasiq added.
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