As the call to prayer resounded through Kabul with the lament of the planes taking off, the distressed people outside the airport were as great as ever. At one point, dozens of Taliban members with heavy weapons about 500 meters from the airport prevented anyone from venturing forward.
Thursday’s bombing near Kabul International Airport killed at least 95 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said, on the deadliest day for U.S. forces. Americans in Afghanistan since August 2011. An official said Friday that the real toll could be higher because other people have removed the bodies from the scene, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak. with the media.
In an emotional speech, President Joe Biden blamed the Islamic State group’s Afghan affiliate, far more radical than the Taliban militants who took power less than two weeks ago.
VIDEO: Pres. Biden’s remarks after the Kabul attack
“We will rescue the Americans; we will take out our Afghan allies and our mission will continue,” Biden said. But despite intense pressure to extend Tuesday’s deadline, he cited the threat of terrorist attacks as a reason to keep his plan.
The Taliban, who again control Afghanistan two decades after being ousted in a U.S.-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, insist on the deadline. The Trump administration in February 2020 reached an agreement with the Taliban calling for a halt to attacks on Americans in exchange for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops and contractors in May; Biden announced in April that he would leave them out in September.
Although the United States said Thursday that more than 100,000 people have been safely evacuated from Kabul, as many as 1,000 Americans and tens of thousands more Afghans are struggling to get out on one of the largest air bridges in history. General Frank McKenzie, head of the U.S. central command that oversaw the evacuation, said Thursday that about 5,000 people were waiting for flights to the airfield.
Still more were coming. Thursday’s attacks caused Jamshad, who only gave his only name, to come early Friday morning with his wife and three young children, taking an invitation to a Western country he did not want to name. This was his first attempt to leave, he said: “After the explosion I decided to try it because I’m afraid there will be more attacks now and I think I have to leave now.”
“Believe me, I think an explosion will happen any second or minute, God is my witness, but we have many challenges in our lives, so we risk coming here and overcoming fear,” said Ahmadullah Herawi, also looking for to flee.
Airport scenes, with people kneeling in the sewage and families sending documents and even young children to American troops behind wire, have horrified many around the world as they continue. efforts to help people escape.
But those possibilities are fading quickly for many. Some U.S. allies have said they are ending evacuation efforts, in part to give the United States time to complete its evacuation work before removing 5,000 of its troops on Tuesday.
Britain said on Friday that its evacuations from Afghanistan will end in a few hours and the main British processing center for eligible Afghans has closed. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that there would be “eight or nine” evacuation flights on Friday, which will be the last. British troops will march in the coming days.
The Spanish government said it had completed its evacuation operation. And French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told French radio station Europe 1 that France will end its evacuation operation “soon”, but may try to extend it until after Friday night.
Thousands of unpublished Afghans, especially those who had worked with the United States and other Western countries, are now hiding from the Taliban, fearing retaliation despite the group’s full offer of amnesty. The militant group has claimed to have become more moderate since its harsh rule from 1996 to 2001, when it largely confined women to its homes, banned television and music, and held public executions.
But Afghans in Kabul and elsewhere have reported that some Taliban members ban girls from attending school and go door-to-door in search of people who had worked with Western forces.
No one knows how effective the Taliban is in fighting ISIS Sunni extremists, who have ties to the group’s best-known affiliate in Syria and Iraq and have carried out a series of brutal attacks on the ISIS. Afghanistan, aimed primarily at its Shiite Muslim minority. .
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