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The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have urged people to leave Kabul International Airport due to the threat of an attack by the ISIL branch in Afghanistan, the Islamic State of the Khorasan Province (ISKP).
Thursday’s warnings came as Western troops rushed to evacuate as many of their vulnerable citizens and Afghans as possible before the August 31 withdrawal deadline.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued an alert advising U.S. citizens to avoid going to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately. He cited unspecified “security threats”.
The British Foreign Office issued a similar notice, telling people in the airport area to “move away to a safe place”, adding: “There is a continuing and high threat of terrorist attack” .
The Australian Foreign Office has also urged Australians and Afghans on Australian visas to leave the region, warning of a “very high threat of terrorist attack” at the airport.
Crowds of desperate people seeking to flee the Taliban regime have tried to gain access to Kabul airport since the Taliban captured the Afghan capital on August 15. the airport in one of the largest air evacuations in history.
According to the US military, planes now take off the equivalent of every 39 minutes.
” The countdown begins. US and foreign forces only have until Tuesday to withdraw and their withdrawal means the end of evacuation flights, ”said Charlotte Bellis of Al Jazeera, from Kabul airport. “Now outside the airport it’s panic as people rush to see if they can get on some of these latest flights,” she said.
“We understand that the United States and the Taliban have an agreement and that the Taliban are only allowed to let through here people who have foreign passports, visas and verified documents.”
Those who are allowed to leave are put on designated buses and the rest are pushed back, she said.
“In the meantime, they are trying to control the crowds and hold people back and prevent them from overwhelming the area so these buses can pass. They do this by firing shots in the air, using water cannons. and hitting people. ”
“Everyone is risking their life”
The Taliban have vowed to provide security outside the airport, but said foreign troops must be out by the end of the month. They encouraged Afghans to stay, saying those who are allowed to leave will still be allowed to do so once commercial flights resume after foreign troops leave.
As crowds continue to crowd outside the airfield, security officials say they increasingly fear the possibility of an attack by ISKP, which security officials see as a rival of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“It is very easy for a suicide bomber to attack the corridors full of people and warnings have been issued repeatedly,” Ahmedullah Rafiqzai, an Afghan official working at the Directorate of Aviation, told Reuters news agency. civilian airport in Kabul.
“But people don’t want to move, it’s their determination to leave this country that they’re not even afraid of dying, everyone is risking their lives.”
The White House said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the threat from the ISKP group as well as contingency plans for the evacuation.
“ISIS-K is a nemesis of the Taliban, and they are used to fighting against each other,” Biden said on Sunday, using a different name for ISKP.
“But every day we have troops on the ground, these innocent troops and civilians at the airport are at risk of an attack by ISIS-K.”
Outside Kabul airport, a former Afghan soldier told Al Jazeera he did not have the proper documents but still hoped to be evacuated to the United States.
“I am here undocumented because a lot of the people who went to the United States on evacuation flights were civilians,” Zyrah Gul said. “So I thought if civilians left and I served in the military, I should be eligible to go too. “
Meanwhile, Zakirah Ahmadi said she was unable to enter the airport despite a valid visa for Turkey. “I have been near the door three times, but because of the gunshots and the screaming, everyone is scared,” she said. “As I am a woman, I do not have the courage to go beyond them. I’ll do my best to get out. Even if I get shot, I will keep trying to get into the airport.
Many in Afghanistan fear the Taliban will revert to their brutal rule, which ended in 2001 and was marked by public executions and restriction of fundamental freedoms. Women were also excluded from school or work.
US-backed forces overthrew the Taliban in the weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, planned from Afghan territory by al-Qaeda. But the group retook the country in a swift offensive earlier this month as the US-backed Afghan government collapsed following the US withdrawal of its troops from the country.
While the Taliban have said they will respect human rights and will not allow “terrorists” to operate from the country, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told NBC News that he there was “no evidence” that Osama bin Laden, the former al-Qaeda leader, was involved. in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
“There is no proof even after 20 years of war, we have no proof that he was involved… There was no justification for this war,” he said.
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