Afghanistan updates: Rockets strike neighborhood near Kabul airport
Afghanistan updates: Rockets strike neighborhood near Kabul airport
August 30, 2021
Hawaii
near a gate to the Kabul airport.before the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.
California Marine Nicole Gee, 23, who cradled baby at Kabul airport, killed in Afghanistan attack
eventual “targeted evacuations” that Macron spoke of on Saturday.
He said at a news conference in Baghdad that France is talking with the Taliban and Qatar about continuing evacuations after the Americans pull out on Tuesday to bring out Afghans on France’s list of potential evacuees that never made it out of the country. One possibility would be to evacuate via Kabul’s civilian airport or a neighboring country, he told the newspaper.
France ended its evacuation flights out of Kabul on Friday night after bringing out 2,834 people, mostly Afghans at risk. Britain ended its operations on Saturday.
–The Associated Press
More:US lawmakers flooded by Afghan evacuation pleas
What to know about US withdrawal from Afghanistan
‘Please help my family, I beg you’: A plea as bombs fall in Kabul and service members dieas 13 service members who were killed in a suicide bombing outside the airport in Kabul made their final trip home.
An order to “present arms” broke the silence, as the first casket was carried off the plane and placed into a gray van. Only the gentle “hup, hup” from the team carrying the cases and an anguished sob as the second service member returned could be heard during the somber 45-minute event.
President Joe Biden, wearing a black face mask, stood with his hand over his heart as the first case was carried off the plane and transferred to a van. Standing with First Lady Jill Biden, the president at times bowed his head and appeared to close his eyes.
Read the rest here:Biden meets with families of service members killed in Kabul suicide bombing
–Rebecca Morin and Rick Rouan
welcome the evacuees.
“Many years ago we were victims of genocide ourselves,” said President Vjosa Osmani. “We will be alongside all of the NATO partners until all of this is completed successfully.”
“We will do everything to make sure they will be safe, secure here and, at the same time, to get some rest,” said Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
–The Associated Press
More:Biden said US would hunt down Kabul airport attackers. A day later, a drone strike killed two ISIS-K targets.
the suicide bombing near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan, received praise and condolences in her home state of Massachusetts in the days after the deadly attack.
Gov. Charlie Baker called Rosariopichardo, 25, who attended high school in the northeastern Massachusetts city of Lawrence, “a Massachusetts hero gone too soon.” She was one of 13 U.S. service members killed in Thursday’s attack.
Rosariopichardo, who also used the surname Rosario, was assigned to the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez issued a statement saying he was “heartbroken” at the loss of “a daughter of our city.” Her family asked for privacy “and that their loved one be recognized as the hero that she was,” he said.
Read more:Marine Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, ‘a Massachusetts hero,’ killed in Afghanistan airport attack
Desperate crowds, closed gates, people stranded after bombing at Kabul airport
to find and strike terrorists “who want to do us harm.”
“We have the capacity around the world, including in Afghanistan, to take, to find and to take strikes against terrorists who want to do us harm,” Blinken said during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press.
Blinken cited the examples such as Yemen, Somalia, and Libya as places where the U.S. has the ability to strike terrorists but “don’t have boots on the ground on any kind of ongoing bases.”
The U.S. has bases in close proximity to those countries, but not near Afghanistan, which Blinken did not mention. For example, it would take several hours to fly a drone to Afghanistan from the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar.
— Rebecca Morin and Tom Vanden Brook
More:What is ISIS-K? Islamic State terror group carried out Kabul attack that killed 13 U.S. troops
US likely to continue strikes against ISIS-K, even as challenges mount after Afghanistan exit
the civilian evacuation and preparing a final retreat from the 20-year U.S. war there.
Defense officials had warned that ISIS-K terrorists had sought to use a vehicle packed with explosives to attack Hamid Karzai International Airport.
It is the second known airstrike on ISIS-K terrorists since a suicide bomber killed 13 American troops and more than 169 Afghans at the airport on Thursday. On Friday, a drone attack killed two ISIS-K militants who planned and facilitated attacks, according to the Pentagon.
— Tom Vanden Brook
Previously:Afghanistan live updates: US warns Americans to leave Kabul airport ‘immediately’; Biden says another Kabul attack ‘highly likely’
Citing Taliban, AP reports U.S. airstrike hits suicide bomber targeting Kabul airport
There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighborhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce.
Citing an Afghan police chief, the Associated Press reported a rocket struck a neighborhood northwest of the airport, killing a child. Reuters reported the U.S. had carried out a strike in Kabul.
Zabihullah Mujahid said in a message to journalists that the strike targeted the bomber as he drove a vehicle loaded with explosives. Mujahid offered few other details.
U.S. military officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
The rocket attack meanwhile struck Kabul’s Khuwja Bughra neighborhood, said Rashid, the Kabul police chief who goes by one name. Video obtained by The Associated Press in the aftermath of the attack showed smoke rising from building at the site around a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
— Associated Press
Graphics and satellite images show how the complex and dangerous evacuation from Kabul airport works
2,900 more people evacuated from Afghanistan
The White House released the latest statistics on evacuations from the Kabul airport on Sunday.
In the 24 hours that ended at 3 a.m. Sunday, about 2,900 people were evacuated from Kabul. About 2,200 evacuees were aboard U.S. military flights, while 700 left on coalition flights.
The latest numbers brought the total evacuees since Aug. 14 to about 114,400 people.
— Rick Rouan
Biden to meet with families of slain service members
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled on Sunday morning to meet with the families of American service members killed in a suicide bombing last week at the Kabul airport.
More:They made the ‘ultimate sacrifice’: Department of Defense identifies 13 US service members killed in Afghanistan airport bombing
The Bidens are scheduled to participate in a “dignified transfer,” where slain service members are returned to the U.S., at noon Sunday at Dover Air Force Base.
The blast on Thursday killed 13 U.S. service members, including 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman and one Army soldier along with at least 169 Afghans.
