The president said the US would 'hunt down' those responsible for the attack on the international airport in Kabul in which more than 60 people were killed, including 12 US military personnel.
Biden said the evacuation of Americans and others from Afghanistan would continue after two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans near the airport on Thursday
Continue reading...Gen Kenneth F McKenzie confirmed the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) had taken responsibility for the suicide bomb attacks at Kabul's airport and the US would take action against those behind it.
Two suicide bombs exploded near the main entrances to the airport hours after western intelligence agencies warned of an imminent and 'very credible' terrorist threat; the Pentagon confirmed that they expect attacks to continue
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US Capitol Police officers who were attacked and beaten during the insurrection at the US Congress on January 6 by extremist supporters of Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the former Republican president, allies such as Roger Stone and members of far-right extremist groups.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Continue reading...Two suicide bombs exploded near the main entrances to Kabul airport on Thursday, reportedly killing at least 60 people, including children. Footage filmed after the blast shows what appears to be smoke rising from the airport and an eyewitness said 'people were hurled everywhere' in the explosions
Continue reading...Analysis: Affiliate known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP, poses ‘acute’ and ‘persistent’ threat, says US
The claim of responsibility from the Islamic State for the devastating suicide bombing at Kabul airport came as little surprise to analysts. The organisation’s affiliate in Afghanistan known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), had been pointed to as the prime suspect immediately after the blast.
The IS official Amaq news agency said on its Telegram channel that a member called Abdul Rahman al-Logari carried out “the martyrdom operation near Kabul Airport”. The name suggests the killer of at least 12 US servicemen and more than 60 civilians was Afghan.
Continue reading...The German defence minister warned of a very concrete risk of attacks at Kabul airport hours before at least one explosion near Abbey gate, an entrance to the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer warned on Thursday morning that German officials had advised people 'to no longer come to the airport on their own' but only if they could reach it safely.
The German military has airlifted more than 5,200 people from Kabul so far, including 4,200 Afghans and 505 Germans
Continue reading...Seoul skirts fraught issue of refugees as it ‘fulfils moral responsibility’ and welcomes 391 newcomers
South Korea has welcomed the arrival of Afghans who supported its operations before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, designating them as “persons of special merit” instead of refugees in an apparent effort to defuse anti-migrant sentiment.
A military aircraft landed at Incheon airport west of Seoul in the afternoon, transporting 378 Afghans who had worked for South Korea’s embassy and other facilities in Afghanistan and their family members. A further 13 will arrive on a separate flight.
Continue reading...Athens calls for a united response, as refugees already in Lesbos hope their asylum claims will now be reconsidered
Greek officials have said that Greece will not become a “gateway” to Europe for Afghan asylum seekers and have called for a united response to predictions of an increase in refugee arrivals to the country.
Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has spoken to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, about the developing situation in Afghanistan this week. Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi last week said: “We cannot have millions of people leaving Afghanistan and coming to the European Union … and certainly not through Greece.” The country has just completed a 25-mile (40km) wall along its land border with Turkey and installed an automated surveillance system with cameras, radars and drones.
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That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh and Aubrey Allegretti report:
Afghans who want to flee to Britain may be better off “trying to get to the border” than awaiting RAF evacuation, the defence secretary has said as British troops made last-ditch attempts to airlift at least 1,500 remaining interpreters and others who have supported the UK.
Related: Fleeing Afghans should try to get to border, says UK defence secretary
Continue reading...Ben Wallace signals few places remain on UK rescue flights as fears of attack grow and deadline looms
Afghans who want to flee to Britain may be better off “trying to get to the border” than awaiting RAF evacuation, the defence secretary has said as British troops made last-ditch attempts to airlift at least 1,500 remaining interpreters and others who have supported the UK.
Ben Wallace, in a briefing to MPs, signalled there were few places left on British rescue flights, which have evacuated more than 10,000 people from Kabul since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan less than two weeks ago.
Continue reading...The Pentagon has responded to the unexpected arrival of two US Congress members in Kabul airport, in what the congressmen claimed was a fact-finding mission but critics have dismissed as grandstanding. “They certainly took time away from what we had planned to do that day,” said John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.
Seth Moulton, a Democratic representative from Massachusetts, and Peter Meijer, a Republican representative from Michigan, astonished state department and military officials in the Afghan capital when they flew in on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Faced with crowd stampedes and Taliban reprisals, even those eligible for travel to UK have begun to give up hope
For the past four days, Nangyalai, a 42-year-old minicab driver from south London, has been queueing with his wife and 11-month-old baby outside the Baron hotel on the edge of Kabul airport, trying to get close enough to the entrance gate to show guards his British passport.
There is a sign by the gate stating “British passport holders only”. Inside the hotel, officials are working to grant evacuation visas for thousands of UK nationals and Afghan citizens who have worked for British organisations. Diplomatic staff say they are “processing hundreds every hour”, but there is a growing sense of despair among the crowds who have been waiting outside since the start of the week – and tensions are rising.
Continue reading...Flights stopped as the Taliban seized control, but numbers are back up and the vast majority of aircraft are now military
Kabul airport’s air traffic rebounded earlier this week due to an increase in military aircraft evacuating people, Guardian analysis has revealed.
Fewer than 15 aircraft arrived or departed each day between 16 and 19 August, according to data from Flightradar24.
Continue reading...Educators say they fear reversal of hard-won progress as aid workers call for Taliban’s desire for international legitimacy to be used as leverage
Afghanistan’s only boarding school for girls has temporarily relocated to Rwanda, its co-founder has said, just days after a video of her burning class records to avoid Taliban recriminations was widely shared on social media.
Shabana Basij-Rasikh, who escaped Kabul with 250 students and staff, urged the world to “not avert your eyes” from the millions of girls left behind.
Continue reading...Joe Biden says the US is 'on pace' to finish its Afghanistan evacuation efforts by 31 August, despite pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops on the ground. The president cited a growing terrorist threat as a reason to continue its mass evacuation. 'The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops,' he said
Continue reading...US president acknowledges that completing airlift by 31 August depends on Taliban continuing to cooperate
Joe Biden has rejected the pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops in Afghanistan for evacuation efforts beyond the end of the month, citing the growing threat of a terrorist attack.
In a move likely to fuel criticism that America is abandoning Afghan partners to the Taliban, the US president made clear that he is resolved to withdraw forces from Kabul airport by next Tuesday’s deadline.
Continue reading...Analysis: US president dashes hopes he might acknowledge damage done by handling of Afghan withdrawal
In the end it took only seven minutes for Joe Biden to pour salt into the wounds of his fractured relationship with European leaders, telling them firmly on a video call that he would not extend the 31 August deadline for US troops to stay in Kabul, as he had been asked by the French, Italians and most of all the British. The rebuff follows Biden’s earlier decision in July to insist on the August deadline previously set in 2020 by Donald Trump for the withdrawal, a decision the US president relayed to his EU colleagues as a fait accompli.
For Europe the episode has been a rude awakening, and a moment of sober reassessment. Only on 25 March Charles Michel had afforded Biden the chance to address a meeting of the European Council, the first foreign leader given the honour since Barack Obama 11 years earlier. Biden after all had said his foreign policy would only be as strong as his system of alliances, the true shield of the republic, and Europe would be at the heart of that system.
Continue reading...Britain’s armed forces are dodging responsibility for failings in Afghanistan and Iraq, argues Prof Paul Dixon. RC Pennington fears military history is doomed to repeat itself. Plus letters from Margaret Phelps, Diana Francis and Jim Golcher
Simon Akam is right, the military does want to ignore its failure in Afghanistan (Britain’s military will want to ignore its failure in Afghanistan. It must face reality, 22 August), but it does so by deflecting responsibility on to the politicians.
There is also a strong reluctance to publish books and articles that are critical of the military, even by those who served. All three books cited by Akam are by journalists who are ex-military.
Continue reading...A Taliban spokesman has said in a press conference that the 31 August deadline for US evacuations from the country will remain, adding the Taliban are 'not in favour' of allowing skilled Afghans to leave the country and would regard a delay in US withdrawal as contrary to the US agreement with the Taliban.
Zabihullah Mujahid also made clear that the Taliban would take 'a different stance' regarding the presence of US troops beyond 31 August
Continue reading...Analysis: The prospect of aid, or the threat of sanctions, may not influence Afghanistan’s new leaders
After some inelegant flip-flopping, the UK and other G7 countries appear to be returning to a familiar combination of carrots and sticks such as humanitarian aid, international recognition and sanctions in an effort to retain a measure of influence over the Taliban.
The threat of sanctions was raised explicitly by the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, in the Daily Telegraph, even though Downing Street had earlier cautioned that such threats were unhelpful during the refugee airlift when maximum cooperation from the militants is required. In practice, the entire Taliban leadership is already subject to sanctions.
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