Photo: MSgt Donald R Allen/AP/Shutterstock
A security threat at Kabul airport this week has sparked multiple warnings.
“Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so,” the embassy said in thesecurity alert.
A State Department spokespersontold NPRthat “this is a dynamic and volatile security situation,” and they are prioritizing safety at this point.
Wali Sabawoon/AP/Shutterstock
In a similar warning, Britain’s armed forces minister, James Heappey, said knowledge of a possible suicide bomber at the airport was “much firmer” and people should keep away from the area, Reutersreported.
“I can’t stress the desperation of the situation enough,” Heappeytold BBC radio. “The threat is credible, it is imminent, it is lethal. We wouldn’t be saying this if we weren’t genuinely concerned about offering Islamic State a target that is just unimaginable.”
Warnings of threats at the Kabul airport have also come from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Australia.
Ahmedullah Rafiqzai, a civil aviation official at the airport, said people continue to crowd around the gates of the airport despite the attack warnings. “People don’t want to move, it’s their determination to leave this country that they are not scared to even die,” hetold Reuters.
U.S. Army via Getty Images
As of Wednesday the U.S. hadevacuated or helped evacuatemore than 82,000 people from Afghanistan since the fall of the country’s government and the Taliban takeover earlier this month, a White House spokesman said.
The updated numbers,shared Wednesday morning, show that approximately 19,000 people were able to get out of Kabul in the previous 24 hours, with flights departing every 39 minutes with the vast majority being Afghans. Vulnerable Afghans are being temporarily housed at three military installations in the United States, according to the release: Fort McCoy; Fort Lee, Virginia; and Fort Bliss, Texas.
President Biden, who has faced heavy criticism for how the evacuation operation has unfolded,told ABC Newslast week that officials will “do everything in our power to get all Americans out and our allies out,” adding, “Americans should understand that we’re going to try to get it done before Aug. 31. If we don’t, we’ll determine at the time who’s left.”
source: people.com
