PESHAWAR: The federal government on 26 August closed rooms’ reservation in all hotels in Islamabad for 21 days to make room for foreigners to be evacuated from Afghanistan.
A notification issued by the Islamabad administration directed hotels to vacate hotels rooms. However, hotels management said that they will requests their guest to vacate the room if the need arises. The notification said that the rooms will be under the control of the district administration for the next 21 days to accommodate people stranded in Afghanistan.
The district administration officials said that they were issued direction by the federal government to vacate all hotels. The officials said security around the hotel has been beefed up by deploying paramilitary troops as hundreds of foreign nationals including diplomats and journalists are expected to arrive in the federal capital. The security officials are of the view that after the bomb blast, the United States and allies are planning to expedite the evacuation process.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths due to series of bomb blasts at Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul has now reached 90, including 13 US troops. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has accepted responsibility for the blasts and warned of more such attacks. Despite the deadly attacks, US president Joe Biden announced that evacuation process will continue without any break till 31 August. The United Kingdom prime minister has termed the bomb blast “disgusting” and said that UK will expedite evacuation process.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says their mission to evacuate people from Kabul airport is coming to an end in “a few hours”, however, he said that not every would be able to leave Afghanistan. He said that after the blasts, people are no more coming to the airport. He said people were no longer invited to the airport and that the British had closed the Baron Hotel to accommodate those traveling to Britain. Wallace warned that the threat of further attacks around the airport increases as the final deadline for evacuation approaches.