United States President Joe Biden on Saturday promised further strikes against the ISIL-affiliate in Afghanistan in retaliation for a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport, describing the situation on the ground as “extremely dangerous”.
“Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours. I directed them to take every possible measure to prioritise force protection,” Biden said in a statement.
Thursday’s bombing killed at least 175 people, including 13 US service members, claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K).
The US military on Saturday said it killed two members of the group in a drone strike on the group’s eastern stronghold.
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Below are the key developments from Saturday, August 28:
Situation remains ‘fragile, dangerous’: Al Jazeera correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Washington, DC, said it is “very unusual” for a United States president “to verbalise to the American people that an attack is potentially imminent against US interests”.
But that is what Joe Biden did on Saturday, Elizondo said, as the US president warned in a statement that “an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours” in Afghanistan.
“It just shows you how delicate and fragile and quite frankly dangerous the situation is there and how seriously the White House is looking at it,” Elizondo said about Biden’s comments, which came after a Kabul airport attack on Thursday killed at least 175 people, including 13 US soldiers.
Last UK military flight leaves Kabul
The final flight carrying British military personnel out of Afghanistan has left Kabul airport, the UK Defence Ministry said on Twitter.
The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan left Kabul earlier on Saturday, bringing to an end an operation that airlifted nearly 15,000 Afghan and British citizens in the two weeks since the Taliban took control of the country.
The final flight carrying UK Armed Forces personnel has left Kabul. To all those who served so bravely under enormous pressure and horrendous conditions to safely evacuate the most vulnerable of civilians: Thank you. pic.twitter.com/8DaRrpjWjq
— Ministry of Defence Press Office (@DefenceHQPress) August 28, 2021
Hope neighbours keep borders open: UNHCR
The United Nations refugee agency is hoping that Afghanistan’s neighbours such as Pakistan and Iran will keep their borders open to accommodate incoming Afghan refugees.
“We hope that those neighbours will keep their borders open for those who need international protection and in the eventuality of significant numbers, moving over the borders,” Matthew Saltmarsh told Al Jazeera from London.
“There would then have to obviously be a structured form of accommodation initially that’s usually how things work in an emergency situation. But if the needs will be huge, there’ll be a need for big humanitarian flows of aid, obviously food, shelter, medical support and day to day items that will be required,” he added.
Afghan people walk inside a fenced corridor as they enter Pakistan from Afghanistan at the border crossing point in Chaman on August 25, 2021 [File: AFP]
Hundreds of Afghans protest in Athens
Afghans in Athens marched to the US embassy, making a plea to the international community for peace and holding banners reading, “Afghanistan is bleeding” and “hands off our land”.
“We are tired of war, we are tired of violence, we are tired of seeing dead bodies. We all came here together, we want peace from the world, we want to end this war,” said Omey Naziam, 24, who joined the peaceful protest in the Greek capital.
Other protesters shouted, “stop killing Afghans” and “we want justice”.
Ukraine evacuates 400 people
The Ukrainian government evacuated about 400 people from Afghanistan, including 80 Ukrainian citizens.
One military and another civilian aircraft landed at Boryspil airport near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and another civilian plane is expected later on Saturday, officials said.
New attack on Kabul airport ‘highly likely’: Biden
US President Joe Biden promised further strikes against the ISKP in retaliation for a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport and warned that the situation on the ground continued to be “extremely dangerous”, including threats to Kabul airport.
“The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
A US military aircraft takes off from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 28, 2021 [Wali Sabawoon/AP Photo]
On Afghanistan, Pakistan walks tightrope of optimism and caution
Pakistan’s government, long accused of providing overt logistical and other support to the Taliban, will walk a fine line between optimism at having a more friendly government in Kabul and potential security blowback on its own soil, analysts say.
Pakistani officials, however, told Al Jazeera the country has no favourites in Afghanistan, and continues to back “a negotiated political settlement” that would see “an inclusive government” formed in its northwestern neighbour.
Read more here.
France in talks with Taliban over evacuations
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that discussions were under way with the Taliban through Qatar to “protect and repatriate” Afghans at risk since this month’s takeover by the group.
Evacuations are planned jointly with Qatar and may involve “airlift operations”, Macron said at a news conference after a summit in Baghdad.
He added that France, which ended its evacuations from Afghanistan on Friday, had evacuated 2,834 people since August 17.
Taliban condemns US drone attack
The Taliban condemned the US drone strike against ISIL fighters following Thursday’s suicide attack outside Kabul airport, with a spokesman describing the operation as a “clear attack on Afghan territory”.
Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban expected to take full control of Kabul airport very shortly, once US forces leave, and would announce a full cabinet in the coming days, Reuters news agency reported.
He said officials had already been appointed to run key institutions, including the ministries of public health and education and the central bank. He also said he expected the serious economic turbulence which has hit the Afghani currency to ease soon.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid [File: Rahmat Gul/AP Photo]
Two Afghan athletes arrive in Tokyo to compete in Paralympics
Two Afghan athletes have arrived in Tokyo to compete in the Paralympic Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.
The team comprising Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli had flown from Kabul to Paris before continuing on to Tokyo, the IPC said.
Read more here.
US troops have begun leaving Kabul airport: Pentagon
US troops have begun their withdrawal from Kabul airport, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
At the briefing, US Army Major General William Taylor said two ISIS-K planners were killed and another wounded in Friday’s drone strike in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan.
US Army soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division check evacuees during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, August 25, 2021 [US Marine Corps/Staff Sgt Victor Mancilla/Handout via Reuters]
Cash crunch in Kabul an ‘ominous sign’: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride said life in Kabul is a “very mixed picture, and you see some conflicting signs which make you wonder, two weeks after the Taliban took control of Kabul, which way the country is headed”.
He said many government ministries have reopened, although some have not, and schools and universities remain closed.
“More significantly perhaps for many people in Kabul, and it’s not a good sign, the banks once more are closed. This has been an ongoing problem – this cash crunch here in Kabul since the collapse of the government,” he said.
UK general: ‘Heartbreaking’ to leave people behind
UK’s Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter has called the country’s withdrawal from Afghanistan “heartbreaking”.
A Royal Air Force plane carrying UK diplomatic staff and soldiers landed at the RAF Brize Norton airbase northwest of London early on Saturday morning. Flights bringing UK citizens and Afghan civilians from the Afghan capital have largely ended.
Carter, Britain’s top military officer, expressed regret that the UK had not been able to evacuate all of the Afghans who had aided British forces over the years.
Read more here.
Kabul evacuations ‘finally in the end game’: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Kabul, said since Friday evening, the US military has been pulling back its forces and giving up its guard posts to the Taliban on the outer perimeter of Kabul airport and in some positions inside the airport itself before the final withdrawal of its troops by August 31.
“You do get a sense this Saturday evening here in Kabul that this long, drawn-out, often chaotic and traumatic evacuation process [is] finally in the end game,” he said.
Read more here.
‘Evacuation of Turkish personnel, citizens from Kabul done in less than 48 hours’
Turkish troops and citizens who wanted to leave Afghanistan have been evacuated from Kabul in less than 48 hours, Turkey’s defence minister announced.
At a welcome ceremony in the capital Ankara for troops returning from Afghanistan, Hulusi Akar said the evacuation was done through an air bridge between Kabul and Pakistan’s capital Islamabad with eight planes and two helicopters.
An A400 M transport aircraft of the Turkish Air Force during the evacuation of Turkish citizens at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport [File: Turkish Defence Ministry Press Service/AFP]
Iran’s Khamenei blames US for Afghan conflict
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed the US for the current conflict in neighbouring Afghanistan and the standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, saying there is no difference between US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.
In his first meeting with the newly-appointed cabinet led by President Ebrahim Raisi, Khamenei said there is a “predatory wolf” behind the scenes of US foreign policy that “sometimes turns into a cunning fox”.
UK, Germany seek common G7 approach on Taliban
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in Afghanistan and agreed on the need for international aid and a common approach by the G7 to the future government of Afghanistan.
“The Prime Minister and Chancellor resolved to work, alongside the rest of the G7, to put in place the roadmap on dealing with any new Afghan government discussed at last week’s leaders’ meeting,” Johnson’s office said in a statement.
“The Prime Minister stressed that any recognition and engagement with the Taliban must be conditional on them allowing safe passage for those who want to leave the country and respecting human rights,” the statement added.
Last UK civilian evacuation flight ends
The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan has departed Kabul airport.
The UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, said earlier the time had come to end airlifting, which led to the evacuation of almost 15,000 Afghan and British citizens over the past two weeks.
“It’s time to close this phase of the operation down but we haven’t forgotten the people who still need to leave, and we will do everything we can to help them,” he said in a statement at Kabul airport released by the foreign ministry.
Read more here.
Taliban deploys extra forces around Kabul airport
The Taliban has deployed extra forces around Kabul’s airport to prevent large crowds from gathering.
The Taliban set up new layers of checkpoints on roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces.
Taliban fighters stand guard as Afghans walk through the main entrance gate of Kabul airport to leave Afghanistan in Kabul [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
‘Just the clothes on me’: Afghans escape to new US life
Wazhma left everything behind to escape after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, aspiring for a life “free of threats” in the US.
In a facility in the UAE, temporarily hosting Afghan evacuees heading to other countries, the 21-year-old medical student struggled to overcome the terror she experienced during the last days at home.
“My husband worked for the US embassy,” brown-haired Wazhma told the AFP news agency just hours before she was due to board a US-bound flight. “I only took the clothes on me. Nothing more.”
NATO ambassador: Italy ‘not abandoning’ those left
The Italian NATO Ambassador in Afghanistan Stefano Pontecorvo stressed the country was “not abandoning” those it had been unable to evacuate from Afghanistan.
Italy’s final evacuation flight of refugees from Afghanistan landed at an airport in Rome carrying 58 Afghan citizens.
Speaking at the airport after the flight’s arrival Pontecorvo said authorities “did our best, under these circumstances” to evacuate as many people as possible.
“I think we went, we crossed the line between possible and impossible to get in everybody we could,” he said.
Stefano Pontecorvo, NATO senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, leaves the airport after disembarking from Italy’s final evacuation flight [Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo]
Afghans protest at Kabul bank
Hundreds of Afghans protested outside a bank in Kabul as others form long lines at cash machines.
The protesters at New Kabul Bank included many civil servants demanding their salaries, which they said had not been paid for the past three to six months.
They said even though banks reopened three days ago no one has been able to withdraw cash. ATMs are still operating, but withdrawals are limited to about $200 every 24 hours, contributing to the formation of long lines.
Afghans wait for hours to try to withdraw money, in front of Kabul Bank [AP Photo]
Two more planes of Afghan evacuees land in Albania
The Albanian government said 154 Afghans had landed in two separate planes in the capital Tirana.
A government spokesman confirmed the arrival of the first plane with 95 Afghans and the second with 59 Afghans, without giving more details.
After their planes landed at the Tirana international airport, two hours apart, the Afghans were taken to a student campus where they will stay for a couple of weeks before moving to hotels in other cities.
A man receives aid parcels as people leave a plane arriving from Afghanistan at Rinas Airport in Tirana [AFP]
UN issues appeal for humanitarian assistance
A UN agency is warning that worsening drought in Afghanistan threatens the livelihoods of more than seven million people.
The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued an appeal for humanitarian assistance. Adding to the plight of what the agency termed “severe drought” is the economic impact of COVID-19 and the widespread internal displacement of Afghans amid enduring conflict.
Earlier this month, the UN World Food Programme, another Rome-based agency, estimated that some 14 million people – roughly one out of every three Afghans – urgently need food assistance.
Evacuee: World has ‘abandoned’ Afghanistan’s new generation
Until last week, Shabeer Ahmadi was busy covering the news in Afghanistan. But after an excruciating decision to leave his country for an uncertain future in Spain, he is helplessly glued to news feeds on his mobile phone, following every twist in the dramatic end of the evacuation of Afghans from Kabul.
“There is a feeling of desperation in Afghanistan,” he said.
“Imagine if you had made a building for 20 years now, that building is getting destroyed and you cannot go out from that building. It feels very bad. Our education, our hopes for ourselves, for our children, for our future, for our country is all destroyed.”
A selfie photo shows Afghan journalist Shabeer Ahmadi in an undisclosed city in Spain [Shabeer Ahmadi/AP Photo]
UK to end evacuation on Saturday
UK troops will end the evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan on Saturday, armed forces chief General Nick Carter said.
“We’re reaching the end of the evacuation, which will take place during the course of today. And then it will be necessary to bring our troops out on the remaining aircraft,” he told the BBC.
“We haven’t been able to bring everyone out, and that has been heart-breaking. And there have been some very challenging judgements that have had to be made on the ground.
UK troops will end their evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan on Saturday [AFP]
Italy’s final Afghanistan evacuation flight arrives
Italy’s final evacuation flight of refugees from Afghanistan landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport.
The Italian Air Force C-130J with 58 Afghan citizens on board arrived on Saturday morning, some 17 hours after it departed from the Kabul airport and after a planned stopover.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Italy was prepared to work with the United Nations and with countries bordering Afghanistan on what he described as the “more difficult phase”.
OPINION: The threat of ISKP in Afghanistan has been underestimated
On August 26, two suicide bombers killed many Afghans and members of the US military at Kabul airport amid evacuation efforts. The ISKP claimed responsibility for the attack and thus put itself in the international media spotlight.
There are two aspects of this attack that need to be considered. First, ISKP attacked the airport primarily to discredit its rival, the Taliban, in yet another escalation of the larger conflict between Sunni hardline armed groups.
Second, ISKP made it clear that the Taliban will find it hard to keep its promises to ensure the safety and security of civilians, especially women and minorities under its rule.
Read more here.
NATO and US forces ready for more attacks
Western forces running the Afghan airlift braced for more attacks after the US launched a drone strike that killed an ISKP “planner”. The White House said the next few days are likely to be the most dangerous.
“We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington, DC. “We’re monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time.”
Afghan refugees arrive at Dulles International Airport in the US state of Virginia on Friday after being evacuated from Kabul [Olivier Douliery/AFP]
Taliban says female public health workers can return to work
Taliban announced that female workers from the ministry of public health can return to work, according to Al Jazeera’s Ali Latifi, who is reporting from Kabul.
The announcement comes a few days after Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said all female government employees should stay at home until the Taliban can guarantee their safety.
Report: US attack carried out to prevent future ISKP attacks
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that the US drone attack was against an ISIL-affiliated group planning “future attacks”.
A Reaper drone, which took off from the Middle East, reportedly struck target while he was in a car with another associate, the official said.
Both are believed to have been killed, the official added.
Most of new Afghan refugees ‘likely’ to end up in Iran, Pakistan
Most of the new Afghan refugees fleeing the country following the takeover of the Taliban are likely to end up in Iran and Pakistan, a refugee group said.
Hardin Lang of Refugees International in the US told Al Jazeera on Saturday that “very difficult weeks and months are coming ahead” for the refugees as they try to escape the country.
He pointed out Iran and Pakistan already host 2.2 million refugees from Afghanistan before the current crisis erupted.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR earlier said up to half a million Afghans could flee in a “worst-case scenario”.
US drone attack kills ISKP ‘planner’ in eastern Afghanistan
An American drone strike in eastern Afghanistan killed a “planner” of the ISIL-affiliated group, a day after an attack outside Kabul’s airport that killed at least 175 Afghans and 13 US troops.
“Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” a US military statement said late on Friday.
US President Joe Biden promised to retaliate for the suicide blasts in Kabul, confirming the bombings were carried out by ISKP.
“We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” he said.
Read more here.
CENTCOM Statement on Counterterrorism Strikehttps://t.co/L3UgtvPa6k
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) August 28, 2021
US embassy in Kabul warns Americans to avoid airport
Americans should avoid travelling to the Kabul airport because of security threats, and those near the gates should “leave immediately”, the US Embassy said in a statement.
A senior Taliban commander said some ISKP members had been arrested in connection with the Kabul attack. “They are being interrogated by our intelligence team,” the commander said.
US says it evacuated 4,200 people in 12 hours
The US says it has evacuated about 4,200 people in 12 hours on Friday, following the deadly suicide attack near the airport in Kabul.
“Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 109,200 people,” the White House said in a statement. “Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 114,800 people.”
France ends its evacuation operation
France has ended its evacuation operation in Kabul, government ministers announced citing the “security conditions” and looming withdrawal of US troops by the end of the month.
“In exceptionally difficult circumstances, France evacuated nearly 3,000 people,” a joint statement by Defence Minister Florence Parly and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.
The ministers added Paris will continue to help the people of Afghanistan “by all possible means”. They said they will work with Taliban officials to ensure that departures from the country are not impeded after August 31.
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