The United States and Britain have warned citizens not to go to Kabul airport, citing a terrorist threat to the extensive facilities outside which thousands of desperate people have gathered since the Taliban. they recaptured Afghanistan. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul sent out an alert Wednesday evening to inform U.S. citizens Afghanistan to avoid traveling to the airport, citing an unspecified security threat amid frantic efforts to evacuate vulnerable Americans and Afghans.
“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 US government to do so,’ the security alert said. . “U.S. citizens who are in Abbey Gate, East Gate or North Gate should now leave immediately.”
A U.S. defense official told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin on Thursday that the threat was not to planes taking off or landing, but that an explosive device was detonated outside the gates of the United States. airport. The official himself, and others in Washington, denied reports that the evacuation efforts in Kabul – which have been fully enabled by US forces controlling Kabul airport – were to be completed within 36 hours.
It was not immediately known what specific intelligence prompted the US embassy’s advice, but President Biden warned this week of the threat posed by ISIS affiliates in Afghanistan, ISIS Khorosan o ISIS-K. A senior British official indicated that ISIS-K was behind the latest urgent threat in Kabul. The Taliban have vowed not to allow ISIS-K, which has been fighting the much larger group in Afghanistan for years, to continue operating in the country.
Britain urged its citizens and everyone to avoid the airport on Thursday, and the army chief cited “very, very credible” intelligence that the terrorists were planning an imminent attack on the thousands of people who have gathered on the outskirts of the airport walls.
“Now there are very, very credible reports of an impending attack and therefore why the advice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was changed last night, according to which people should not reach the ‘Kabul airport, they should move to a safe place and wait for further instructions.’ Forces Minister James Heappey told BBC radio. “I can’t stress enough the desperation of the situation. The threat is credible, it’s imminent, it’s lethal. We wouldn’t say that if we weren’t really concerned about offering the Islamic State an unimaginable goal.”
Heappey told Britain’s Sky News on Thursday that the terrorist group was “very aware of the fact that there is a closing window for people to leave. [Kabul]. That’s concentrating people towards the airport, and that gives them a chance to do something that they would consider spectacular, that we would consider absolutely unpleasant. ”
He said he knew the warning to avoid the airport would cause “real despair for many of the people who have not yet been betrayed in the country, but we are not being too cautious: the threat, though I can’t to give the detail, is very imminent, very credible, very lethal. “
The U.S. embassy in Kabul warned Americans to stay abreast of the environment at all times, to follow the instructions of local authorities, to have contingency plans in case of an emergency, to monitor the media. locals and to follow the State Department on social media.
The Biden administration has in recent days accelerated the pace of evacuation of U.S. and Afghan citizens at risk from Kabul. The U.S. government said Thursday that more than 95,000 people had been relocated from Afghanistan in the past two weeks.
But there were still more than 10,000 people gathered outside Kabul airport, hoping to reach one of the flights leaving the country, Army Divisional General Hank Taylor said on Wednesday.
BBC News correspondent Secunder Kermani, who has been reporting daily amid the crowd of desperate Afghans outside the airport, said on Thursday that information such as the terrible warning of a possible imminent attack by authorities Westerners “will not filter these people They are so desperate that they do not even know what documentation they must bring, what is their processing, so it will not affect the crowds that appear.”
President Biden said so on Tuesday contingency plans to meet the August 31 deadline to withdraw all remaining U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which would end the two-decade war, was unfolding. However, that deadline does not indicate the end of U.S. “involvement” in the country, according to Ross Wilson, the U.S. ambassador in office in Afghanistan.
“We would like all those who wish to leave this country to do so and be able to do so before August 31, especially American citizens.” Wilson told CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
“Our commitment in this country and our participation in this country does not end on this date. We believe there will be possibilities for Americans to get out of this country,” he continued. “America’s commitment to American citizens, particularly to our staff, to those who served our country, will not end.”
CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata reported Thursday that some European countries had already declared an end to their evacuation efforts with the U.S. military withdrawal deadline.
“It is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul,” the Danish defense chief said.
Canada also announced the end of its evacuation flights on Thursday, citing the fast-approaching deadline for the departure of U.S. troops.