ISIS-affiliated suicide bombers and gunmen struck the Kabul airport Thursday, killing at least 13 American service members and 60 Afghans amid the chaotic US-led evacuation mission — which top officials said would continue despite fears of additional terror attacks.
President Biden, in an address from the White House, vowed to go after the terrorists — known as the Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K — and said he had ordered US generals to plan retaliatory strikes on the group’s key assets.
“We will not forgive, we will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said.
The president and Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the mammoth effort to get Americans and allies out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31 was ongoing.
“These ISIS terrorists will not win,” Biden said. “We will rescue the Americans. We will get our Afghan allies out. And our mission will go on.”
“America will not be intimidated.”
US officials were bracing for more attacks, according to McKenzie, who said American forces would continue to coordinate with Taliban fighters, who have been conducting screenings outside the airport’s gates.
“The threat from ISIS is completely real. We expect those attacks to continue and we are doing everything we can to be prepared for those attacks,” McKenzie said at a briefing. “That includes reaching out to the Taliban … to make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us.”
The two bombers, however, appear to have gotten past the Taliban checkpoints, detonating in a crowd of people desperately trying to make it onto flights out of the war-torn country.
McKenzie admitted there had been some type of “failure” that allowed the terrorists to get through, adding it would be investigated.
Asked whether he trusted the Taliban, the general noted the group and the US share “the common goal” of getting Western troops out by next week.
“As long as we keep that common purpose alive, they’ve been useful to work with. They’ve cut some of our security concerns down and they’ve been useful to work with going forward,” McKenzie said.
There was no indication that the Taliban allowed Thursday’s attacks to happen, he said.
“We’ve reached out to the Taliban, we’ve told them you need to continue to push out the security perimeter,” he said.
“We’ve identified some roads that we would like for them to close. They’ve indicated that they will be willing to close those roads, because we assess the threat of a suicide borne vehicle threat is high right now, so we want to reduce the possibility of one of those vehicles getting close.”
The first explosion occurred outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate, which is the airfield’s main entrance where US service members were stationed.
A crowd of Afghans were standing in a canal waiting to try and get on evacuation flights when the explosion took place.
The second blast occurred outside the nearby Baron Hotel where many Americans and British evacuees had been told to gather in recent days before heading to the airport.
A “number of ISIS gunmen” then opened fire on US troops, McKenzie said.
Harrowing footage from the scene shows more than a dozen bodies strewn like debris in the canal after the airport gate blast.
Images of blood-soaked people being rushed from the scene in wheelbarrows also emerged.
An Afghan man who was near the first explosion said some people appeared to be missing body parts after the blast. Another man identified as Karl, who said he was a translator for the US Marines, told Fox News that a young girl died in his arms.
“There was an explosion that happened inside the crowd — a lot of people got hurt,” he said. “I got a baby girl — she was 5 years old — she died right in my hands.”
More explosions could be heard later in Kabul, but those blasts were carried out by US forces to destroy their equipment, said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Shortly after McKenzie spoke, the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it targeted American troops and their Afghan allies.
The militant group released a photo it said was of a bomber who carried out the attack, seen standing with an explosive belt in front of a black IS flag with a black cloth covering his face and only his eyes showing.
It claimed the bomber had managed to get past Taliban checkpoints and American security measures — and within five yards of a group of US soldiers, translators and others before detonating. It made no mention of a second bomber.
The ISIS branch also said that Taliban fighters were among the casualties. The extremist group has battled the Taliban militants, seeing them as traitors for collaborating on a peace deal with the US. The Taliban condemned the explosions.
Afghan officials said at least 60 people were killed and 140 injured in the attacks.
The dead included several Marines and one Navy medic, officials told the Associated Press. At least 18 service members were wounded.
“They were heroes,” Biden said of the slain US troops. “Heroes who’ve been engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to save the lives of others.”
Press secretary Jen Psaki said that the US flag will be flown at half-staff at the White House, all public buildings and grounds and all military posts and naval stations from Thursday through Aug. 30 in honor of the victims “of the senseless act of violence.”
She said US forces were under threat simply by being on the ground, conducting the evacuation mission in Afghanistan.
Despite the risk, McKenzie said US forces would continue to search and process evacuees before they boarded flights.
Roughly 1,000 Americans remain in the Taliban-controlled country, though not all of them want to leave, said McKenzie, adding that 5,000 people were expected to be evacuated Thursday.
Since Aug. 14, the US and its allies have evacuated more than 104,000 civilians, he said.
Warnings had emerged overnight on Wednesday from the US, Britain, EU and other nations about security threats at the airport.
Biden said Thursday’s attacks demonstrated why he has refused to extend the deadline for pulling US troops after Afghanistan following the 20-year war.
“This is why from the outset I’ve repeatedly said this mission was extraordinarily dangerous and why I’ve been so determined to limit the duration of this mission,” he said.
The US will continue to “find means by which we could find any American who wishes to get out of Afghanistan,” even after troops leave, the president said, adding, “we will find them and we will get them out,” without elaborating.
Asked how much responsibility he was willing to accept for how the withdrawal efforts unfolded, Biden mostly passed the buck.
“I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that’s happened of late,” he said. “But here’s the deal… you know as well as I do that the former president made a deal with the Taliban.”
With Post wires
