US officials say Kabul attacks won't stop airlift

The daily chaotic evacuation scene at the Kabul airport turned into one of death and maimed survivors on Thursday as two suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 US troops, officials said.

President Joe Biden and General Frank McKenzie, the US general overseeing the evacuation of Afghans, Americans and others, insisted that the attacks wouldn't halt the American-led airlift.

A few hours after the explosions, "we are continuing to bring people onto the airport," McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Tampa, Florida. "The plan is designed to operate under stress." He noted that there were still around 1,000 US citizens in Afghanistan.

Intelligence has revealed other "very, very real" terrorist threats to the airport, McKenzie said, including plans for rocket attacks and a vehicle bombing.

In an emotional address from the White House, Biden said: "We're outraged as well as heartbroken."

"To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this," he said to the attackers. "We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks on behalf of its loyalists in Afghanistan, and Biden said that he had instructed the US military to develop plans to strike IS.

"We will respond with precision at our time at a place that we choose and the moment of our choosing," Biden said. "Here's what you need to know: These ISIS terrorists will not win."

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a message: "We strongly condemn this gruesome incident and will take every step to bring the culprits to justice''.

Western governments had warned earlier Thursday of an imminent attack by Islamic State's regional affiliate. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan is far more radical than the Taliban, who seized Kabul on Aug 15 and are a sworn enemy of Islamic State.

Thursday's bombings were the first major security incidents since the Taliban took power in Kabul on Aug 15.

At the time of the attacks, approaches to the airport's gates were packed by thousands of Afghan civilians. At times, the area has descended into chaos as people scrambled toward evacuation flights.

On Thursday, a suicide bomb attack at the airport's Abbey Gate was followed by an assault by gunmen, officials said. Another bomb attack took place nearby, at a hotel outside the airport, officials said. Fifteen US service members were injured, the Pentagon said.

McKenzie said there was a large amount of security at the airport, and alternate routes were being used to get evacuees in. In addition to the many Afghans, the State Department estimated there were as many as 1,000 Americans in Afghanistan who may want help getting out.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that "we will not be dissuaded from the task at hand", a reference to evacuations from Kabul airport before the Aug 31 deadline set by Biden to leave the Taliban-controlled country.

"To do anything less — especially now — would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan," he said.

Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement: "It is time for Congress to act quickly to save lives. Our enemies have taken advantage of the chaotic nature of the withdrawal."

He called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to reconvene the House, which is on its August recess, so members may be "briefed thoroughly and comprehensively by the Biden administration" on the situation in Afghanistan.

The attacks took place in the final days of the US 20-year presence in Afghanistan marked the deadliest day for the US military in Afghanistan since 2011.

The American deaths on Thursday were the first US military combat fatalities in Afghanistan since February 2020 when the Trump administration and the Taliban signed an agreement on withdrawing American troops.

The deaths of American soldiers – mostly Marines – were part of the deployment of 5,800 sent by Biden to help evacuate Americans and Afghan allies from the country after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.

Footage from the sites of the attacks showed multiple bodies, and bloodied survivors being taken away in wheelbarrows.

"For a moment I thought my eardrums were blasted and I lost my sense of hearing,'' one Afghan who had been trying to reach the airport told Reuters. " I saw bodies and body parts flying in the air like a tornado blowing plastic bags. I saw bodies, body parts, elders and injured men, women and children scattered," said one Afghan who had been trying to reach the airport.

Emergency, an Italian charity that operates hospitals in Afghanistan, said it had received at least 60 patients wounded in the airport attack, in addition to 10 who were dead when they arrived.

"Surgeons will be working into the night," Marco Puntin, the charity's manager in Afghanistan told The Associated Press.

A former Royal Marine who runs an animal shelter in Afghanistan said he and his staff were caught up in the aftermath of the blast near the airport.

"All of a sudden we heard gunshots and our vehicle was targeted, had our driver not turned around he would have been shot in the head by a man with an AK-47," Paul "Pen" Farthing told Britain's Press Association news agency.