Washington [US], August 28 (ANI): The US military has “begun retrograding” from the Kabul airport and it’s “still in charge of the airport” and the security, Pentagon said on Saturday.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that the US troops are “retrograding” from the Hamid Karzai International airport and noted that Washington is “still in charge of the airport” and the security, CNN reported.
Earlier in the day, the Taliban had claimed that US soldiers left three gates and some other parts of Kabul airport and the terror group started controlling the areas, reported TOLO news.
However, Pentagon has assured that the US will continue to operate the Kabul airport.
“We are going to continue to operate the airport up until the end. We will continue to run that airfield to make sure that we can execute our operations,” Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations Army Major General William Hank Taylor said at a press conference on Saturday.
Earlier Pentagon informed that two “high-profile ISIS targets” were killed during an airstrike in Afghanistan on Friday.
“I can confirm, as more information has come in, that two high-profile ISIS targets were killed, and one was wounded. And we know of zero civilian casualties,” said Major General Taylor.
On Thursday, a suicide bomber and multiple ISIS-K gunmen killed 13 US service members and at least 169 Afghan civilians in the attack at the Kabul airport.
Taliban gains control over 3 gates of Kabul Airport as US soldiers leave
The Taliban said on Saturday that they have gained control over the three gates of Kabul Airport as the US forces wound down evacuations ahead of its August 31 deadline, Tolo News reported.
The developments came two days after the deadly attack outside the airport killed 13 US soldiers.
Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official had on Friday said that there was only one suicide bomber near the Kabul airport and the reports about the second explosion have not been confirmed.
The initial reports about a second suicide explosion at the Baron hotel near Kabul airport have not been confirmed, Sputnik reported.
US President Joe Biden said the United States has reason to believe the leaders of the Islamic State-Khorasan terror group is behind the attacks at the Kabul airport that killed 13 US service members.
Biden also said the Islamic State-Khorasan has planned complex attacks against US forces and others in Afghanistan after they were released from prisons during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
US Embassy urges Americans to leave vicinity of Kabul airport due to threat
The US Embassy in Afghanistan is urging Americans to leave the Kabul airport area because of a specific threat in Afghanistan.
“Due to a specific, credible threat, all U.S. citizens in the vicinity of Kabul airport (HKIA), including 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, should leave the airport area immediately,” the embassy said in a security alert on Saturday (local time).
US citizens are being urged to avoid travelling to the airport and avoid all airport gates at this time.
On Friday, the White House admitted there was clearly a breakdown in the security process that failed to prevent this week’s suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, which left scores dead, including 13 US troops.
Earlier, the British and Australian governments issued similar warnings, with Australian officials describing “an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack.”
Marise Payne, Australia’s Foreign Minister, said at a news conference Thursday that the Taliban will allow Australian citizens and visa holders to leave safely but added, “Our travel advice remains: You should not come to Hamid Karzai airport because it is not safe to do so, and if you are in Kabul, you should shelter in place, move to a safe location and await further advice.”
Thousands of Afghan nationals are camped outside the perimeter of the airport in desperate attempts to escape on the last flights out after the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.
US diplomatic presence expected to be reduced to ‘skeletal crew’ in next 24 hours
Diplomatic presence of United States in Afghanistan is expected to be reduced to a “skeletal crew” in the next 24 hours, US media on Saturday said citing sources.
Some individuals or small families were still “being pulled through the gates somehow” as of Saturday, CNN reported citing a source familiar with the situation. It further stated that the gates have been closed for days. The numbers getting on were thought to be “a very tiny subset, consisting of single people or families. However, the US has said they had alternate routes to the airport.
The source said US airport staff were “still getting hit up by tons of people trying to get in.”
This follows the deadly blasts which rocked Kabul on Thursday , in which more than 170 people were killed and at least 200 were wounded, in addition to the 13 US service members who were also killed, an official with Afghanistan‘s Ministry of Public Health told CNN,
The source said it was unclear if the evacuation of local embassy employees had finished, but that hundreds more had been reported as having got to the airport and that “hundreds more have departed for interim locations.”
The US has evacuated nearly 6800 people in the past 24 hours from Afghanistan bringing the total number of evacuees to 1,11,900 since August 14, a top official said on Saturday.
Afghanistan‘s situation is deteriorating as people rush to leave the nation after the Taliban seized control over a week ago.
On August 15, the Afghan government fell soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the nation. Countries have been evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation speedily.
The Kabul airport is witnessing nowadays a heavy chaos due to instability in the region. (ANI)
