According to a US source, the US military carried out an attack in a populated area northwest of Kabul’s airport terminal; this happened on Sunday to prevent a possible explosion.
The Bomb Was Destined to Hit the Airport
A vehicle-borne homemade explosive charge constituted an “immediate danger” to the airport, according to a military official. The United States military intervened to avoid another incident like the one that happened last Thursday when a bomb blast killed 13 US service personnel and 170 Afghan civilians.
CNN: US carried out a defensive airstrike in Kabul Sunday on a suspected ISIS-K car bomb that was targeting the airport, according to US defense official.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 29, 2021
According to Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesperson for US Central Command, US military personnel launched a self-defense drone over-the-horizon attack on a car in Kabul today; this thereby removed an impending ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai Airport terminal.
Urban is certain that they were able to hit the target. He went on to say that additional blasts from the vehicle suggested the presence of a significant quantity of high explosives. The Army is assessing the risk of civilian causalities, according to Urban, though there is no evidence at this moment.
U.S. drone strike hits Islamic State car bomb in Kabul, officials say https://t.co/KctdPyvBa8 pic.twitter.com/mFlVn7McyR
— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) August 29, 2021
According to the Press Association, an Afghan chief of police reported that at least one child was killed in the blast. The employment of “over-the-horizon” technologies, according to the official, suggested that the Army used an unmanned aerial vehicle from a military installation in the Gulf.
In a communication to reporters, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the strike struck the terrorist as he moved a vehicle equipped with explosives. Mujahid did not provide any other information.
The threat came as the US completes a dramatic evacuation that saw tens of thousands of people rescued from Kabul’s airport terminal; this airport has been the epicenter of the mayhem that has overtaken the Afghan city since the Taliban took control two weeks earlier.
Military transport flights from the United States continued to fly into the airfield on Sunday, short of President Joe Biden’s stated timetable of Tuesday to remove all soldiers from America’s deadliest conflict.
Relatives were collecting their dead sons and daughters at Dover Air Force Base when the airstrike happened on Sunday. President Biden, Joint Chiefs of Staff of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled in Dover on Monday to meet with the relatives of the deceased.
🇺🇸300 US citizens left to be evacuated from Afghanistan
More than 114,000 people in total have fled the country since the Taliban takeover
Follow all the latest updates from Afghanistan here 👇https://t.co/9rXt7V963y
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 29, 2021
Controversy Sets in Over the Last Drone Strike
Many experts believe the two Islamic extremist militants killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan on Friday just weren’t high-value targets, since the Biden government failed to name them.
Major Gen. William Taylor merely referenced the deceased militants as a “director” and “enabler” in a press briefing on Saturday. He refused to clarify if they had particular roles in the terminal terrorist bombing that killed 13 Soldiers and 170 Afghans on Thursday. The attack was carried out by the Islamic State of Khorasan, or ISIS-K.
