Washington – Thirteen members of the US service were killed and more than a dozen others were injured in an attack on the airport in the capital of Afghanistan on Thursday, opening a new deadly chapter in the massive effort of the US to evacuate US and Afghan allies before August 31 from President Biden. deadline to retire.
The Pentagon said a suicide bomber detonated an explosion that detonated a crowd waiting at an entrance to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where thousands of people have gathered every day since the city fell to the Taliban. , desperate to embark on flights from country. Another blast affected a nearby hotel, the Pentagon said.
The total death toll stood at 90 people on Thursday evening, with 150 more injured, an Afghan official said. The bill was expected to increase.
At the comments to the White House later, the president said the bombings were the work of ISIS affiliate fighters in Afghanistan, known as ISIS Khorasan or ISIS-K. The attacks marked one of the deadliest days for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in the twenty years since the Allied invasion.
Biden lamented the loss of members of the U.S. service, promising to retaliate against those who orchestrated the attacks and continue the process of withdrawing from the capital. The United States has helped more than 100,000 people leave Afghanistan since Aug. 14, according to the White House.
“Those who made this attack, as well as anyone who wants harm in the United States, know this: we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will persecute you and make you pay,” Biden said. “Our mission will continue. America will not be intimidated.”
A Taliban spokesman condemned the “horrific incident” and said the group “will take every step to bring the culprits to justice”. The militant group has controlled the capital since the fall of the Afghan government almost three weeks ago and is responsible for security at the airport.
Evan Vucci / AP