Americans in Afghanistan are warned to withdraw from Kabul airport due to terrorist threats linked to the Islamic State.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul sent an alert early Thursday, Afghanistan time, to tell U.S. citizens not to travel to the airport “because of security threats outside the gates.
Senior U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the warning was related to specific ISIS-related threats and possible vehicle bombs.
The State Department security alert also told Americans that at three specific airport gates “they were leaving immediately” without further explanation.
“Due to security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid the airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from ‘a representative of the United States government to do so,’ the statement said.
“U.S. citizens who are in Abbey Gate, East Gate or North Gate should now leave immediately,” he added.
The warning came when Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as many as 1,500 U.S. citizens are still stranded in the Taliban-controlled country. The Americans have been trying to get to Kabul airport to make evacuation flights before the US withdraws its troops from the country on August 31st.
President Biden on Tuesday cited what he called “the acute and growing risk of an attack” by ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-K, as a reason for not extending the withdrawal period.
“Every day we are on the ground is another day that we know ISIS-K is trying to head to the airport and attack both American forces and innocent allies and civilians,” the president said.
A U.S. defense official told CNN on Wednesday that Washington has received a “very specific threat” of intelligence related to multiple potential ISIS-K attacks on crowds of Afghans who have swarmed the country. airport day after day in a desperate attempt to get a seat on an evacuation flight.
The UK Foreign Ministry issued a travel alert similar to the one issued on Wednesday by the State Department, warning “of a continuing and high threat of terrorist attack”.
“Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport,” the notice said. “If you’re in the airport area, go to a safe place and wait for more advice.”
ISIS-K, which is the abbreviation for ISIS-Khorasan, the name of the terrorist group for the territory that includes Afghanistan and Pakistan, has carried out some of the deadliest attacks in the last years of the war in Afghanistan. In May, a triple bomb attack on a girls’ school in Kabul killed at least 68 people and injured more than 165.
Blinken estimated that officials have been “in direct contact” with about 500 Americans who have been provided with “specific instructions on how to get to the airport safely.”
In addition, Blinken said, the State Department has been in contact with about 1,000 more people “who may be Americans who want to leave Afghanistan.”
The secretary added that some 4,500 Americans have been displaced since August 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul and caused a humanitarian crisis.
