WASHINGTON: The United States on Saturday warned of a “specific, credible threat” near Kabul airport and urged its citizens to leave the area, days after a deadly attack on crowds fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Here’s all you need to know-
Here’s all you need to know-
- A series of urgent terror warnings have rattled evacuation efforts overseen by US forces, who have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent a repeat of Thursday’s carnage at one of the facility’s main access gates.
- In a security alert the
US Embassy in Kabul said, US citizens should avoid traveling to the airport and avoid all airport gates at this time. - It specifically noted the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior, and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport.
- The Pentagon said the remaining contingent of US forces at the airport, now numbering fewer than 4,000, had begun their final withdrawal ahead of Biden’s deadline for ending the evacuation on Tuesday.
- After getting briefed on a US drone mission in eastern Afghanistan that the Pentagon said killed two members of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate early Saturday, Biden said the extremists can expect more.
Earlier Saturday US President Joe Biden warned that his military commanders believed a fresh attack could come “in the next 24-36 hours”, calling the situation “extremely dangerous”.
Scores of Afghan civilians and 13 American troops were killed Thursday in the bombing claimed by the regional Islamic State-Khorasan group.
(With inputs from agencies)
