Afghanistan live updates: U.S. forces preparing for more ISIS attacks in Kabul, top commander says

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan authorities are taking over vacant hotel rooms in the capital, Islamabad, for the following three weeks to shelter other folks escaping Taliban-dominated Afghanistan forward of the Aug. 31 deadline that President Biden has scrape for the U.S. navy withdrawal.

Islamabad’s civilian authority asked accommodations Thursday to stop taking reservations for the following 21 days and inch away empty rooms at the metropolis’s disposal, according to a examine viewed by The Washington Submit. Passengers on transit flights from neighboring Afghanistan will maintain in the Pakistani capital, it acknowledged.

Rana Waqas Amar, a metropolis administration legitimate, acknowledged it remained unclear how many individuals would land in Pakistan, nevertheless authorities absorb been initially getting engaging for up to 6,000.

“Because the scheduled flights reach, carrying passengers, we can facilitate them,” he acknowledged. “The operation would possibly well match for the following couple of weeks.”

The US acknowledged it would press on with the evacuation till its deadline, after explosions killed thirteen American service participants and ratings of Afghans at the gates of Kabul airport and a nearby hotel on Thursday.

U.S. forces and their allies, who tranquil maintain Kabul airport, absorb airlifted over 100,000 of their nationals and Afghans out since the Taliban’s comeback in mid-August, though many more remain wanting to flee.

New receiving points in the Heart East and Europe absorb opened for civilians fleeing Afghanistan since final week, because the air spoiled receiving quite a lot of them in Qatar overflowed with other folks crammed into in a sweltering hangar with unpleasant sanitation.

With evacuation flights from Kabul winding down, witnesses say crowds absorb additionally massed on the Afghan aspect of the border with Pakistan.

Francis reported from London.

U.S. forces in Kabul are preparing for extra Islamic Enlighten terrorist attacks, which can include the utilization of car bombs, or rockets being fired at the capital’s airport, because the evacuation effort in Afghanistan nears its Aug. 31 deadline.

Thirteen U.S. service participants — 10 Marines, two squaddies and a Navy corpsman — and dozens of Afghans absorb been killed in twin explosions at the gates of Kabul’s international airport and a nearby hotel on Thursday, the deadliest day for the American navy in Afghanistan in a decade. A top U.S. commander has acknowledged the Islamic Enlighten, which has claimed accountability, is behind the attacks.

“We imagine it is their settle on to continue these attacks, and we query these attacks to continue,” Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Picture, instructed reporters Thursday. He outlined security measures in dwelling, including securing the boundary of the airfield and using anti-rocket and mortar methods, as successfully as sharing some information with Taliban militants operating checkpoints exterior the airport.

Even because the USA and its allies warned Thursday morning that an assault at the airport used to be likely, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that one of these assault used to be imminent, according to the Associated Press. Later, Mujahid critical that the airport is controlled by U.S. troops. Without exterior lend a hand, analysts say the Taliban shall be laborious-pressed to stave off future attacks because it struggles to stable and govern a battle-weary nation.

ISIS-Khorasan, an Islamic Enlighten affiliate that has claimed accountability for the attacks, considers each the Taliban and the USA to be enemies. President Biden on Thursday promised retribution against the terrorist group, ordering his commanders to gain operational plans to strike key assets, management and facilities of the group.

The president additionally acknowledged more U.S. troops would possibly well even be deployed to stable the evacuation if navy commanders absorb in mind it critical. (No such examine had been made as of unimaginative Thursday.) The US and its allies absorb flown out more than 104,000 other folks since Aug. 14, the Pentagon acknowledged Thursday, in one in all the greatest air evacuations in history.

The entire different of casualties remained uncertain Friday morning. One particular person with information of the topic, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he used to be now not licensed to talk over with the media, acknowledged at the least 112 other folks absorb been killed and 111 injured. He acknowledged the dying toll used to be anticipated to upward push, because ambulance staff would possibly well now not reach our bodies closest to the airport gate.

KABUL — Thousands of anxious Afghans seeking a fresh future absorb been once again massing at Kabul’s airport on Thursday, waiting to be frisked by the U.S. Marine Corps at Abbey Gate. There absorb been 5 days left before the departure of the American citizens, 5 days to score away a nation all straight away below favor watch over of the Taliban.

Nevertheless because the crowds pressed forward to the gate, their entry point to a fresh life, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt. A 2d explosion adopted at the nearby Baron Hotel, then gunfire.

“Of us absorb been burning alive, other folks would possibly well now not breathe,” acknowledged one Afghan eyewitness, who used to be with his valuable other and completely different kin waiting for an evacuation flight.

“Stupid other folks absorb been in every single attach,” acknowledged a 2d Afghan man who, love completely different eyewitnesses, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals. “I observed a lady in blood, wrapped up in a blanket covered in blood.”

Vice President Harris canceled plans to back political rallies in California this week after wrapping up her outing to Southeast Asia, seeking to speed her return to Washington following the twin terrorist bombings at the Kabul airport.

After briefly meeting troops in a prescheduled stop at Joint Inaccurate Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu., the vp traveled to Washington with 2nd Gentleman Doug Emhoff. Her dwelling of job released a immediate commentary expressing sorrow for the 13 American service participants killed in the assault, as successfully as Afghan civilians who had been killed or injured. Islamic Enlighten Khorasan (ISIS-K), an Islamic Enlighten affiliate in Afghanistan, claimed accountability for the bombings.

“A terror assault killed 13 American service participants … They are heroes,” she acknowledged. “Our nation is grateful to our girls folks and men in uniform, and in explicit, these working … to score American citizens and our Afghan partners out of destroy’s way.”

Her outing to Asia aimed to assuage allies and partners that are all in favour of China’s geopolitical upward push on the one hand nevertheless reluctant to remove actions that would possibly well undermine their lucrative exchange with Beijing. “We enact now not gape battle,” she acknowledged in remarks about China during her visits to Vietnam and Singapore. “Nevertheless on disorders love the South China Sea, we are going to talk up.”

The vp’s Aug. 20-26 tour, nonetheless, used to be overshadowed by the tense, and ongoing operations in Afghanistan that aimed to rescue thousands of stranded American citizens, Afghans, and voters of allied countries from Kabul’s airport, in what has turn into the Biden administration’s first main foreign policy disaster.

The terrorist attacks in Kabul Thursday underscored the urgency of the evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, as an Aug. 31 deadline scrape by the White Condominium to withdraw all U.S. forces immediate approached.

The vp had originally hoped to search the recommendation of with California — the remark where she once served as attorney long-established and later, as one in all its two senators in Washington — to abet fellow Democrat and remark Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing a favor vote subsequent month. The vp’s California search the recommendation of with used to be viewed as an try to favor Democratic voter turnout, in what is anticipated to be a tight speed.

Britain has rescued three Afghan households whose small print absorb been exposed by officials in the frenzy to transfer away the nation’s embassy in Kabul.

Documents identifying seven Afghans who worked for the British diplomatic mission in Afghanistan absorb been found by reporters from the Instances of London on Tuesday as Taliban fighters patrolled the compound, the newspaper acknowledged.

Embassy staff it appears left the documents — which reportedly included the small print of a senior embassy staffer, completely different staff participants and the resumes of different folks that had utilized to be interpreters — scattered on the ground in their haste to evacuate.

Some of the oldsters had already been resettled in Britain, the newspaper reported.

The British Foreign Administrative middle acknowledged the plain error that ended in the publicity of Afghan staff, and thanked The Instances for sharing the information and helping “score these three households to security.”

“We absorb worked tirelessly to stable the protection of different folks that worked for us in Afghanistan and continue to enact so,” a book for the Foreign Administrative middle acknowledged. “The drawdown of our embassy used to be done at trot because the reveal in Kabul deteriorated. Every effort used to be made to homicide quiet enviornment topic.”

Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative lawmaker who chairs a parliamentary committee that oversees the Foreign Administrative middle, acknowledged that an legitimate inquiry shall be launched into the incident. “The proof is already coming in,” he tweeted.

The destiny of Afghans who worked with Western and allied governments during the two an extended time-lengthy battle is uncertain after the Taliban’s swift takeover of the nation this month. The Islamist militant group has promised now not to retaliate, nevertheless proof of Taliban killings, detentions and intimidation absorb emerged for the duration of Afghanistan.

More than 104,000 other folks absorb been flown out of the nation by the USA and its allies since Aug. 14, the Pentagon acknowledged, including foreign voters and susceptible Afghans who can absorb faced retribution below Taliban rule.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace acknowledged Friday that the nation’s evacuation mission in Afghanistan used to be about to finish.

“We can direction of the oldsters that we’ve brought with us, the 1,000 other folks roughly in the airfield now,” he instructed British media. “Nevertheless total the main processing is now closed and we have a topic of hours.”

Not each person that Britain had sought to rescue would manage to be evacuated, he acknowledged.

Wallace’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged that London would continue evacuation operations in Afghanistan “till the final moment.”

Johnson had acknowledged that the “hideous” attacks at Kabul airport Thursday that killed dozens, including 13 American service participants, didn’t exchange British airlift plans. “We’re in a situation to continue with the program in the manner we have been running it, according to the timetable that we have purchased,” he acknowledged.

Native media had previously reported that the British airlifts would possibly well stop as early as Wednesday evening. The White Condominium has scrape an Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan; their presence is excessive to the airlift and Kabul airport’s security.

The top minister acknowledged that London would continue pushing the fresh Taliban regime to let Afghans out. Britain “fully expects” that every who settle on to transfer away after Aug. 31 are allowed to enact so, he acknowledged. “We can exhaust your total influence that we can bring to endure … to support the fresh authorities in Afghanistan to enact that.”

Johnson’s remarks come as President Biden declared his intent to finish U.S. evacuation operations despite the ISIS attacks. “We would possibly well now not be deterred by terrorists. We is now not going to allow them to stop our mission. We can continue the evacuation,” the president acknowledged.

The British Embassy in Washington flew flags at half of-staff on Thursday, saying it stands in solidarity with the USA and troops killed in the attacks.

London has evacuated over 11,400 other folks — principally Afghans — from Taliban rule since mid-August.

An attorney for the notorious all-girls Afghan robotics crew has despatched a stop-and-desist letter to an Oklahoma lady, telling her to stop taking credit score for the girls’ score faraway from Kabul and warning that her a wide determination of media appearances endanger their group’s remaining participants in Afghanistan.

The lady, Allyson Reneau, spoke final week to At the present time.com and to an entire lot of completely different media retail outlets, telling a sage of her supposed involvement in the evacuation of a entire lot of participants of the robotics crew, known internationally because the “Afghan Dreamers.” These retail outlets reported that she had “saved” the girls from probable oppression below the Taliban.

Nevertheless a attorney for the crew’s parent group, the Digital Citizen Fund, acknowledged Reneau has overstated her feature and has attach the girls and their households in concern because her claims are undermining ongoing rescue efforts in the nation.

Every morning for the previous week or so, the White Condominium has released numbers detailing the scope of the effort to airlift American citizens and others out of Afghanistan. The records clearly had been meant to reinforce that the effort to bring threatened individuals to security used to be moving forward at a staggering clip and, therefore, that stories about the chaos that preceded these evacuations absorb been much less dire. What the fresh numbers additionally point to is that the effort slowed in fresh days, with nonmilitary flights making up a wide share of the full.

Pulling the numbers from the every single day updates reveals that more than 100,000 other folks absorb been airlifted out of Afghanistan since Aug. 1. The White Condominium refers to this total because the different of different folks the USA evacuated or whose evacuation it “facilitated,” referring to those nonmilitary flights. Essentially the most evacuations came about in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday morning, when 21,600 other folks absorb been evacuated. In the 24 hours before Thursday morning, the volume used to be 13,400.

SYDNEY — Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia condemned the “unpleasant” attacks that killed 13 U.S. service participants and dozens of Afghans at Kabul airport Thursday, adding that his nation had “done” its evacuation operation almost straight away before the incidents.

“We join with our American and Afghan chums in mourning their unpleasant and unpleasant loss,” he acknowledged, adding that he had despatched a letter expressing his condolences to President Biden.

Morrison acknowledged that Australian squaddies had been guarding the airport’s Abbey gate good hours before the assault there nevertheless that every government personnel had made it out before the twin bombings.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the bombings “hideous” and acknowledged that prerequisites on the ground in Kabul made it too refined for her nation to continue evacuating other folks. New Zealand additionally withdrew its troops almost straight away before the attacks.

“New Zealand’s thoughts and condolences are with other folks that helped us to score our voters and visa holders home,” she added.

Australia deployed more than 250 troops in its operation — though some remained at an air spoiled in the United Arab Emirates — and evacuated 4,100 other folks, including more than 3,200 Australians and Afghan visa holders. In relation to 800 of the oldsters that fled are already in quarantine in Australia. Morrison would now not say how many Australian voters or visa holders absorb been tranquil in Afghanistan nevertheless acknowledged alternatives to score them out absorb been now “very restricted.”

Roughly 40 New Zealand troops absorb been involved in its rescue mission, which had evacuated 276 New Zealanders before a final flight carrying around 100 other folks, including some Australians, left on Thursday. Some visa holders and voters remained behind, Ardern acknowledged.

“We’re good unfortunately now not clear on the numbers,” she acknowledged. “Nevertheless I’m able to relate, we know with absolute certainty we didn’t score each person out.”

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton acknowledged the deadly assault underscored why his nation fought in Afghanistan, losing 41 troops.

“They’ve demonstrated by these barbaric actions precisely reasons why Australia used to be with our allied forces in Afghanistan,” he acknowledged. “Over the final 20 years, 39,000 Australians absorb outdated the uniform and absorb fought in our nation’s title to favor that kind of barbaric act from our shores.”