As of: 08/29/2021 4:15 p.m.
There was an explosion in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. According to the local police chief, it was a rocket attack and a child had been killed. According to agency reports, there was a US retaliation.
A residential area in the Afghan capital Kabul was apparently hit by a missile. What exactly happened is still unclear. The AP news agency reported that, according to the local police chief, a child had been killed in a rocket attack. At first no one confessed to the attack.
According to information from the Reuters agency, there was a US retaliation. The target of the attack in Kabul were alleged members of the IS-K extremists.
According to the Taliban, the US military apparently thwarted another suicide attack at Kabul airport. A Taliban spokesman said the United States had launched an air strike against an assassin in a vehicle who wanted to target the airport.
“The nervousness is huge”, Oliver Feldforth, ARD Neu-Dehli, with background on the danger of an attack in Kabul
tagesschau24 4:00 p.m., August 29, 2021
Biden warns of further attacks
Only on Thursday at least 13 US soldiers and two British soldiers were killed in an attack by the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) at Kabul airport. The information on the Afghan fatalities fluctuates, broadcasters such as CNN spoke of up to 200 dead.
US President Joe Biden warned on Saturday of a persistently high risk of attacks. The US Army leadership considers an attack within “24 to 36 hours” to be “very likely”. In retaliation for the attack, the US Army flew a drone attack on the IS-K offshoot on Saturday night. According to the Pentagon, two high-ranking members of the Islamist splinter group were killed. Biden announced further retaliatory attacks. It will not have been his “last” reaction to the serious attack at Kabul airport.
The Taliban also warned of new IS attacks on Kabul airport. The Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera reported that the Islamists rated the danger as very high.
Afghanistan: Extremely tense security situation at Kabul Airport
Patricia Klieme, MDR, Tagesschau 8:55 a.m., August 29, 2021
USA continue evacuation flights
In the meantime, the US continued its evacuation flights: the US military began the final withdrawal of troops from the airport in Kabul. The US troops are supposed to leave Afghanistan by Tuesday, according to Biden’s will. After the Taliban came to power about two weeks ago, the US dispatched thousands of additional soldiers to secure the evacuation of US citizens and local workers.
Yesterday, the remains of the 13 US soldiers who were killed in the suicide attack at Kabul Airport were also flown to the United States. The US Department of Defense announced the identity of the 13 dead soldiers. There were eleven members of the Marines, a sailor in the Navy and a soldier in the US Army.
Macron is aiming for a UN security zone in Kabul
Biden and other Western heads of state and government want to seek arrangements with the Taliban to enable local forces to leave the country even after the international evacuations have ended. Such talks were already underway between France and the Islamist group, said President Emmanuel Macron.
France and Great Britain want to table a resolution at an emergency meeting of the United Nations on Afghanistan on Monday, in which a security zone in Kabul will be proposed. “Our resolution proposal aims to define a safe zone in Kabul under the control of the United Nations, which would allow the continuation of humanitarian operations,” Macron told the newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche”.