PESHAWAR: In a first drone strike after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, United States central command has claimed to have killed the “planner” of the Hamid Karzai International Airport attack.
A statement issued by US central command said the drone strike was carried out in Nangarhar province, along the border with Pakistan. The statement said claimed that as per the initial investigation, Kabul airport attack “planner” belonging to Islamic State – Khurasan (ISIS-K) has been killed. The statement added that there was no immediate information about the number of causalities as a result of the US drone strike
After the deadly bombing – that also killed 13 US soldiers and wounded 25 others – President Joe Biden had directed the central command for effective action against the planners of the Kabul attack. Biden had termed the fallen soldiers “heroes” and vowed to take revenge on those behind the deadly attack.
Meanwhile, the US troops have warned the American citizens not to visit Kabul airport, saying that there are “credible threats” of another attack on those leaving Afghanistan. The threat alert said, “United States citizens on Kabul airports gates should immediately leave the area.”
Several western countries have announced completion of the evacuation operations from Kabul airport. The Pentagon also announced that so far 110,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan. The US is now working to evacuated 6000 US troops from Kabul till August 31 and hand over control of the airport to the Taliban.
President Biden was told at a national security meeting that every possible effort has been taken to safely withdraw US troops. “The next few days would be the most dangerous period of the withdrawal mission from Afghanistan,” an official said, adding that US forces were looking for ISIS – Khurasan targets in the country.