Double attack claimed by ISIS killed more than 80 at Kabul airport | Thirteen US servicemen lost their lives and Joe Biden vowed to respond “with force and precision”

The crisis in Afghanistan took a dramatic turn on Thursday with a double attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group that killed at least 70 Afghan civilians and 13 US soldiers at Kabul airport., where evacuations of civilians fleeing the new Taliban regime continued. In the first of the attacks, a suicide bomber from the terrorist group detonated a bomb in one of the airport entrances, while another set off the explosives he was carrying near a hotel near the terminal.

ISIS-K, the regional arm of the extremist force in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attacks according to a message posted on its Telegram channel. For its part The Taliban condemned the bloody attacks, noting that they took place in an area under US military control. The US and UK had both warned of an “increased terrorist threat” at the site. President Joe Biden has promised to respond “with force and precision” to the attacks. Despite the rain of criticism for the withdrawal, Biden has ratified that the United States will leave Afghanistan and do so on the promised date of August 31. “It’s time to end a 20 year war”, Filming.

How did the attacks go?

It is the first such attack since the Taliban took control of the country on August 15.despite strict security checks by Islamists in Kabul. The first of the explosions took place at 6:24 p.m. in Afghanistan near one of the access gates to the airport in the Afghan capital. When all eyes were on that spot and it was about helping the victims, the second explosion occurred through a car bomb., about 300 meters and next to the Hotel Baron, the base used by the United Kingdom to coordinate its evacuations.

A former British serviceman who witnessed the attack from a car he was arriving in at Kabul airport said he saw one of the attackers armed with an AK-47 rifle. “Suddenly we heard gunshots and our vehicle was attacked, and if our driver had not turned around he would have been shot in the head by a man.”, detailed Paul Farthing.

Afghans in bloodstained clothing and crying women tried to leave the area, while dozens of injured were carried in wheelbarrows. “Bodies and pieces of meat were thrown into a nearby canal” describes an eyewitness, Milad, at the AFP agency. “When people heard the explosion there was total panic. The Taliban started shooting in the air to disperse the people,” added a second witness.

The young man said he lost in the confusion all the documents that would have allowed him to board a flight with his wife and three children. “I don’t want to go back to the airport anymore. To hell with the United States, their evacuation and their visas.”he apologized.

Shortly after the attacks, several foreign media reported two more explosions in the Afghan capital, but the spokesman of the Taliban movement, Zabihullah Mujahid, ruled out that they were attacks. Mujahid argued that these were explosions controlled by US forces to destroy ammunition.

Claiming the ISIS-K

The attacks were acknowledged by the Afghan branch of ISIS, according to a statement from its news agency Amaq. The so-called Islamic State of Khorasan (ISIS-K) detailed how one of the explosions occurred, carried out by one of his suicide bombers after pass the security checks “of the American forces and the Taliban militia around the capital“.

“He was able to reach a large concentration of translators and US military staff in the Baran camp, near Kabul airport, and detonated an explosive belt, killing around 60 people and injuring 100 , including members of the Taliban, “added the jihadists in their version. events.

“We’re going to make them pay”

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, promised to take revenge on the perpetrators of the attacks. “For those who committed this attack, we will not forgive, we will not forget, we will track them down and make them pay. I will defend my people and our interests with all the strength at my disposal, ”Biden promised in a speech to the nation from the White House.

“We will respond in our time with force and at the place we decide”added a Biden who had to cancel his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a visit to Washington. The Democratic President he also published two thinly veiled critiques of the Taliban.

First linked the attacks to the insurgent movement’s decision to open prisons and release all those held in the country. “They immediately started planning attacks on US forces,” the president said, referring to the alleged prisoners released from ISIS.

After criticized the Taliban chain of command, which implies the agreements they negotiated with management to guarantee evacuations were not always respected in the street, especially around the airport, where one of ISIS’s two suicide bombers blew himself up. “This is not what you would call a well coordinated command operation like that of US forces,” he said.

Biden pointed out that “There is no evidence that there was collusion between the Taliban and the Daesh“ and acknowledged that at present both his government and the Islamist movement “have a common interest”: that the United States withdraw on August 31 and leave the last point they control in the country, the airport international capital, as agreed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

The Taliban, tough on the United States

The Taliban movement held the United States accountable for Thursday’s security breaches. The attacks “took place in an area where security is in the hands of US forces.”, insured Mujahedin, spokesperson for the Islamist group. The Taliban “pay special attention to the safety and security of their people, and those responsible will be detained,” he added.

“We demand the withdrawal of the Americans by the specified time and date. We do not plan to extend the length of your stay in Afghanistan “ after the explosions in the capital, Mujahid said, noting that this only applies to military personnel and that the transfer of civilians may continue beyond August 31.

In his opinion, the United States Army has all the capabilities to complete the sortie on time. “They have big planes, they can evacuate their forces and their employees, but they must not take ordinary Afghans or force them to leave.”, warned the spokesperson at a press conference.

International repudiation

The double attack sparked unanimous rejection from the international community and strengthened the commitment of the United States and its allies to continue and complete the evacuations before the end of the month. German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounces “absolutely despicable” attack He added that “it’s a very, very tense situation to get people out of the country.” Germany said in a statement that it had already completed its evacuations.

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, assured instead that “hundreds” of people still had to be evacuated. “As we speak, we have 20 buses of dual nationality and Afghans that we want to repatriate,” Macron said. For his part, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, promise that the evacuation operation in Afghanistan will continue despite the double “barbaric” and “despicable” attack at Kabul airport.

The tension between the powers is such that UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls meeting of permanent members of the Security Council. Guterres sent letters formally inviting the US, UK, France, Russia and China to meet next Monday. Russia would have been reluctant, but all five are expected to attend.

Last week, Kabul airport was the scene of some of the harshest images of the end of the longest war in American history. Flight after flight have left to drive out those who fear reprisals for collaborating or working for foreign forces, or that the Taliban will re-impose the brutal regime that characterized their previous government until it was overthrown by a waged international invasion by the Americans in 2001.