The White House warned that another terror attack is "likely" as evacuations continue. Several European nations have terminated evacuations due to the security situation.
US national security officials warned that another terror attack in Kabul is "likely", following Thursday's suicide bombing at Kabul airport.
Military forces on the ground are thus "taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul Airport" as the US continues evacuations before an August 31 deadline.
Most Western airlifts have either ended or are winding down due to the security situation in the country. Thousands of Afghans are still gathered outside the airport gates trying to flee the Taliban.
At least 13 US soldiers were killed in the attack, as were more than 100 Afghan civilians. Many more were injured. The atrocities have been condemned around the world, from organisations as diverse as NATO and the Taliban.
Two British citizens were also killed in the attack, the foreign office said, and a child of a British citizen was killed.
Key developments:
- US national security advisers warned another terror attack in Afghanistan is "likely", the White House said, as the US ramps up evacuations ahead of an August 31 deadline to withdraw forces.
- Reports on Friday raised the overall death toll from Thursday's attack to at least 169. At least 13 US personnel died and two British citizens died.
- President Biden vowed that US forces would avenge the attack by hunting down those responsible. The self-proclaimed Islamic State group (IS) has said it carried them out.
- The US president also said the American evacuation mission will continue through to next Tuesday's deadline for withdrawal.
- Britain says its operation is in its final stages, while France now says its evacuations may continue beyond Friday night having previously said they would end by then. Most European countries' airlifts have ended.
Updates on Friday:
“We will rescue the Americans; we will get our Afghan allies out, and our mission will go on,” President Biden said. But despite intense pressure to extend Tuesday’s deadline, he has cited the threat of terrorist attacks as a reason to keep to his plan.
The Taliban, back in control of Afghanistan two decades after they were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, insist on the August 31 cutoff date.
The Trump administration in February 2020 struck an agreement with the Taliban that called for it to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for the removal of all U.S. troops and contractors by May; Biden announced in April he would have them out by September.
While the U.S. on Thursday said more than 100,000 people have been safely evacuated from Kabul, as many as 1,000 Americans and tens of thousands more Afghans are struggling to leave in one of history’s largest airlifts.
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Pulitzer Prize board announces special citation for people who produced news stories in Afghanistan
The Pulitzer Prize Board announced a special citation Friday for people in Afghanistan who risked their safety to help produce news stories and images from their war-torn country.
“From staff and freelance correspondents to interpreters to drivers to hosts, courageous Afghan residents helped produce Pulitzer-winning and Pulitzer-worthy images and stories that have contributed to a wider understanding of profoundly tragic and complicated circumstances,” the board said.
Another terror attack is 'likely', US national security team says
The US military is "taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul Airport," the White House said.
The US president spoke to his national security team, including commanders and diplomats in the field, from the Situation Room.
"The threat is ongoing and it is active. Our troops are still in danger," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing.
"This is the most dangerous part of the mission. This is the retrograde period of the mission and what that means is that this is the period of time when the military, commanders on the ground and forces begin to move not just troops home but also equipment home, and that is often a very dangerous part of any mission but in this case, they're also doing that while there is an ongoing and acute threat from ISIS-K," she continued.
Taliban rule won't last long, claims Afghanistan's self-declared acting president
The self-proclaimed acting president of Afghanistan has told Euronews that Taliban rule won’t last long because their methods are “unacceptable to the people”.
Amrullah Saleh was vice president before the Taliban takeover earlier this month, which prompted President Ashraf Ghani to flee.
Saleh, speaking from the Panjshir Valley, an area of the country not currently under Taliban control, told Euronews: “The law of the Taliban is Islamic Emirate, unacceptable to the people of Afghanistan and the election of a leader by a group is unacceptable. It is impossible for Taliban rule to last long in Afghanistan.”
Read more here.
UK 'will shift heaven and earth' to help Afghans after evacuations end, Boris Johnson says
"As we come now to the final hours of the operation, there will sadly be people who haven’t got through, people who might qualify,” Johnson said. "What I would say to them is that we will shift heaven and earth to help them get out, we will do whatever we can in the second phase."
He said that the loss of two British citizens "underlines" the urgency of concluding the evacuations operations.
Johnson urged the Taliban to allow "safe passage" for those who qualify to leave the country.
UN Security Council condemns terror attack, says perpetrators need to be held responsible
The council of 15 states "underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice," and urged states to cooperate with authorities to do so.
The Council added that "any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed."
The nations also "reiterated the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan to ensure the territory of Afghanistan should not be used to threaten or attack any country, and that no Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any country."
Taliban spokesman says 'female employees' of Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health should work
Naeem said there would be no "obstacle" to them going to work.
Afghan death toll in suicide bombing rises to at least 169
The Afghan death toll in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport rose to 169 people, two officials told the AP.
The US Pentagon said 13 service members were killed in the attack while the UK foreign service said that 2 British citizens were also killed. The child of a British citizen was also killed in the suicide bombing.
Two British nationals and a child of a British national killed in Kabul attack, foreign office says
Two British nationals were killed in the terror attack outside the Kabul airport, foreign secretary Dominic Raab announced. The child of a British citizen was killed as well.
Two more British nationals were injured in the attack.
"These were innocent people and it is a tragedy that as they sought to bring their loved ones to safety in the UK they were murdered by cowardly terrorists," Raab said.
'Credible threats' in Kabul as US evacuations continue
The US Pentagon said they "expect" more attempts at attacks in Afghanistan.
"We still believe there are credible threats. In fact, I'd say specific, credible threats," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby at a press conference.
He said they were "monitoring these threats...virtually in real-time," but added that he couldn't provide more detail.
Pentagon says 5,400 people at airport awaiting evacuation
There were still 5,400 people at the airport awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan, the US Pentagon said on Friday.
Around 12,500 people were evacuated in the past 24 hours in 89 evacuation flights, US Army Maj Gen Hank Taylor said at a press conference.
Two flights also landed at the US military base in Germany carrying wounded personnel from the terrorist attack that killed 13 US service members.
Afghanistan attack near Kabul airport was one suicide bombing, Pentagon says
The Pentagon said that the attack in Kabul was just a single suicide bombing at Abbey Gate. They previously said there were two bombings: one at Abbey Gate and one outside the Baron Hotel.
Italy ends evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, foreign minister says
An Italian Air Force flight departed from Kabul on Wednesday with Afghan civilians, in addition to consul Tommaso Claudi, Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo, and the members of the military that remained, he said.
US officials have 'no good options' in Afghanistan following attacks, analyst says
"These blasts put Washington in a terrible policy bind: Keep doing evacuations and risk more terror attacks at the airport that kill more people, or stop evacuations and keep people desperate to leave from leaving," said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Programme at the Washington DC-based Wilson Center.
"Like so many other US policy decisions about Afghanistan, there are no good options," he said.
The attacks on Thursday carried out by the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan marked the first deaths of US personnel in Afghanistan since February 2020.
UNHCR: Half a million more may flee Afghanistan
The U.N. refugee agency is gearing up for as many as half a million people or more to flee from Afghanistan in a “worst-case scenario” in the coming months.
UNHCR says the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last week “remains uncertain and may evolve rapidly,” with up to 515,000 new refugees fleeing.
The agency said that would add to the 2.2 million Afghans who already are registered as refugees abroad — nearly all of them in Pakistan and Iran.
“The upsurge of violence across the country and the fall of the elected government may have a serious impact on civilians and cause further displacement,” the plan said.
The agency cited estimates that 558,000 people have been internally displaced within Afghanistan due to armed conflict this year alone – four in five of them women and children. “UNHCR estimates that the number of displaced will rise, both internally and across border,” it said.
Najeeba Wazedafost, CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network, in an online UNHCR news conference on Friday, warned of “coming darkness” in Afghanistan amid a “tragically intertwined series of crises.”
The U.N. agency is seeking nearly $300 million (€255 million) for its response plan for inter-agency requirements.
Afghan staff details 'left behind at UK Kabul embassy'
The UK's defense chief promised Friday to “get to the bottom of” a security lapse that saw documents identifying Afghan staff members and job applicants left behind at the abandoned British Embassy in Kabul.
Reporter Anthony Loyd of The Times said he found the papers scattered on the ground as he toured Kabul’s abandoned diplomatic district with a Taliban escort this week.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said “clearly it’s not good enough” that the documents were left unsecured. He said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “will be asking some questions” about what had happened.
“We’ll find out and get to the bottom of it,” Wallace told LBC radio.
Thousands of citizens who worked with Western forces have been trying to leave Afghanistan, fearing reprisals now that the Taliban control the country.
Loyd said the documents included the name and address of a senior embassy staff member, the contact details for other employees and the resumes and addresses of people applying to be interpreters.
He called the phone numbers he found and learned that some of the staffers had already left Afghanistan but others were still in the country, including three Afghan employees and eight family members stranded outside Kabul's airport as they tried to leave.
The government said they were eventually found and taken to safety. The Times said the fate of at least two of the job applicants remains unknown.
The House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee said it would hold an inquiry into how the documents got abandoned during the hurried departure of UK diplomats from the embassy as the Taliban advanced on Kabul earlier this month.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that “during the drawdown of our embassy every effort was made to destroy sensitive material.”
Medical supplies exhausted 'within days' in Afghanistan -- WHO
In the aftermath of the Kabul airport attacks, the official said the organization's two priorities were to ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel and the continuity of essential health services, especially for the most vulnerable. in particular women and children.
WHO has staff in the 34 Afghan provinces responsible for monitoring the health situation.
"The good news is that of the roughly 2,200 health facilities they oversee, 97% are still open and functioning," Brennan said.
In contrast, he said, "medical supplies are running out quickly" and "WHO is unable to meet" the needs.
Despite the logistical difficulties, the WHO hopes to find a solution in the coming days, with the support of the Pakistani government.
"Kabul airport not being an option at the moment, we will probably use Mazar-i-Sharif airport, with a first flight expected in the coming days," Brennan said.
Germany says 300 citizens still in Afghanistan
Germany says it believes that about 300 of its citizens are still in Afghanistan after the country ended its evacuation flights from Kabul.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger said Friday there are also some 10,000 Afghans who worked for German forces or for other reasons had been identified as entitled to evacuation. But it’s unclear how many of those might have found a way out other than on German flights.
The German military flew 5,347 people out of Kabul, including more than 4,000 Afghans and some 500 Germans, before ending its evacuation mission on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday that Germany is in direct contact with the remaining German citizens on ways to support an “organized departure” from Afghanistan.
He said officials are in talks with the Taliban and others on the possible future civilian use of Kabul Airport and will try to facilitate the departure of endangered Afghans.
Germany plans to beef up staffing at its embassies in neighboring countries. Maas said he will travel to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan starting Sunday to discuss how to get Afghans quickly and safely from their country’s border to German embassies. He said Germany will offer those countries support in dealing with the humanitarian fallout of events in Afghanistan.
Sweden ends evacuations
Sweden is ending its evacuations from Afghanistan, the country’s foreign minister Ann Linde told a press conference on Friday.
More than 1,100 people have been evacuated by Sweden since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
"The extremely difficult and risky conditions have not allowed us to evacuate more Swedes and local employees," she said.
She warned on Twitter earlier that she had “renewed information about a high terrorist threat against the area around Kabul Airport”.
Linde told Swedes “NOT to go to Kabul Airport” and for those already there to leave.
Paris to set up 'special desk' for Afghan asylum claims
More than 2,500 Afghans have arrived in France under the airlift operations begun after the Taliban took power on August 15.
The first arrivals must leave the hotels in which they are installed from this weekend for a 10-day health quarantine and will then be able to submit an asylum request.
"A special unique desk for registering asylum requests will be set up from Monday at the Paris police headquarters," said Ofii director Didier Leschi.
Around 20 extra staff will be brought in to ensure the requests are processed smoothly.
Turkey says Taliban wants it to run airport
The Taliban has asked Turkey to operate Kabul airport but no decision has been made yet, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
“The Taliban have made a request for us to operate Kabul airport. We have not yet made a decision on this matter,” he told a news conference at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before leaving for a trip to Bosnia.
He added: “We will make a decision after the administration (in Afghanistan) is clear.”
Erdogan said a meeting with the Taliban lasting more than three hours took place at the Turkish embassy in Kabul, without saying when the meeting took place. “If necessary, we will have the opportunity to hold such meetings again.”
The president added that the evacuation of Turkish troops from Kabul, which began on Wednesday, was ongoing. He condemned Thursday’s attacks.
The prospect of Turkey operating Hamid Karzai International Airport after the withdrawal of NATO troops was first raised in June but seemed to have passed when the Taliban took Kabul on Aug. 15.
France may extend evacuations 'beyond' Friday -- minister
France had planned to complete its operation on Friday evening, a deadline "imposed" by the Americans, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.
Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari also spoke of the "last flights tonight", interviewed on the CNews channel on Friday morning.
But France is still trying to evacuate several hundred Afghans.
"The terrorist attack must not prevent these operations (...) We will continue until the last possible second," said Clément Beaune.
He hinted, however, that all of the threatened Afghans who try to leave their country may not be able to do so.
"Does that mean that all the people who worked in Afghanistan for allies, for Europeans will be able to leave the airport? Probably not," he conceded.
Bodies of 'at least 95 Afghans' recovered
Albania receives first Afghan evacuees
Albania on Friday housed its first group of Afghan evacuees who made it out of their country despite days of chaos near the Kabul airport.
A government statement said an Egyptian Almasria Universal Airlines plane landed at the Tirana international airport at 3:20 a.m. (01:20 GMT) carrying 121 people, including 11 children. Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka and U.S. Ambassador Yuri Kim were at the airport to greet the evacuees.
.After the plane landed in Tirana, the passengers were supplied with facemasks and had their information processed in a military tent before they were taken on buses to hotels in the nearby western port city of Durres. The Albanian government will supply them with food, transportation, security and other necessities, according to the foreign minister.
The government plans to allow the evacuees to stay in Albania for at least a year before they move to the United States for final settlement.
Albania may temporarily house up to 4,000 Afghans, people who would be at risk in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Xhacka said they include “pedagogues, artists, intellectuals, activists of the civil society, human rights organizations or those of women.”
Kim praised the Albanian government for agreeing to host evacuees.
Kabul attacks death toll now 85 including 13 US soldiers
France hopeful of flying more Afghans out on last day
"The operation continues and will continue as long as all the French soldiers have not left Afghanistan", said spokesman Colonel Pascal Ianni.
"Nothing was interrupted. Other flights to Kabul are scheduled," he added, referring to the airlift set up between Kabul, Abu Dhabi and Paris.
"What happened is very serious but is part of the planning that we had considered," said a French military source. About a hundred French soldiers are present at the airport to facilitate evacuations.
France will try to evacuate "several hundred" more Afghans, but without any guarantee of doing so because of the "extremely tense" security situation there, President Emmanuel Macron announced after the attacks.
He mentioned 20 buses with binationals or Afghans on board to be evacuated, including "several in the queue" outside the airport where thousands of Afghans are massed, desperately trying to sneak in. to be able to get on a plane.
Paris planned to complete its operation on Friday evening, a deadline "imposed" by the Americans, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday morning.
Norway's final evacuation flight lands in Oslo
Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said Friday she regrets that “it was not possible to help everyone this time around” as the last plane of evacuees from Afghanistan landed in Oslo.
Eriksen Soereide told the Norwegian news agency NTB that the plane carried 128 people -- including Norwegian citizens and “others who qualify for entry and Afghans in need of protection.” So far, Norway has evacuated 1,098 people.
Another plane which will be the last one with evacuees, is scheduled to arrive later Friday.
“This will be the very last plane with people who have received help to travel from Kabul this time,” she added.
“The operation ends after yesterday’s horrific terrorist attack that claimed many lives. We have all the time been clear that the time window could be short, both due to the security situation and because a deadline has been set for completion.”
Evacuation flights take off, large crowd reported
Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed with new urgency on Friday, a day after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of desperate people fleeing the Taliban takeover. The U.S. says further attempted attacks are expected ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America’s longest war.
Kabul residents said several flights took off Friday morning, while footage shared by a local Tolo TV correspondent showed the anxious crowd outside the airport as large as ever.
Britain said Friday its evacuations from Afghanistan will end within hours. The Spanish government said it has ended its evacuation operation.
France says its evacuations will end by Friday night but will try to fly more people out today.
Spain wraps up Kabul evacuation operation
The Spanish government says it has ended its evacuation operation from Afghanistan with the arrival in Dubai early on Friday of the two military aircraft that have carried Spaniards and vulnerable Afghans out of the Taliban-controlled country.
The last flights carried Spanish aid workers, Afghan collaborators and their relatives, as well as the last 81 soldiers and diplomats that Spain kept at the Kabul airport, a statement from the Spanish government said. They were expected to arrive in Madrid later on Friday.
Spain has evacuated a total of 1,900 Afghan nationals, the statement said. Those include not only workers for the Spanish forces and embassy, and their relatives, but also people who collaborated with the United States, Portugal, the European Union, NATO.