Wars & Rumours of Wars

nivek

As Above So Below
Riddle as Pentagon now says there was only ONE explosion in Kabul suicide attack that killed 13 US troops and reveals 'thousands' of ISIS-K prisoners were freed from Bagram by the Taliban 12 days ago

Pentagon officials said on Friday that there was only one suicide bomber at Kabul airport on Thursday and not two, as was previously claimed, adding to confusion over the attack and fears for the ongoing operation on the ground.

Speaking at a briefing on Friday, Army General Hank Taylor said: 'I can confirm that we do not believe there was a second explosion at or near the Baron hotel. It was one suicide bomber. In the confusion of very dynamic events can cause information to get confused,' he said.

He did not say whether the bomb that went off was car bomb or bomber in a vest. Both were described on Thursday on the ground and by Washington officials. The Pentagon's Press Secretary, John Kirby, was among those who confirmed both of the blasts.

At the same briefing on Friday, Kirby revealed that thousands of terrorists from ISIS-K, the group responsible for the attack at the airport, escaped from Bagram prison earlier this summer after Biden's troops cleared out from the base in July, leaving it to outnumbered Afghan forces to supervise them.

The prisoners were filmed being freed by the Taliban on August 15.


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HAL9000

Honorable
Very confusing.

Particularly as the one that was shown was in a location a car could not get to. I.E, by the sewer/canal.

Looks as if the pull out is over for people.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
White House CAN'T guarantee getting all stranded Americans out of Afghanistan: Psaki says 500 want to leave but hints they are on their own after August 31 when the Taliban will have control of the airport

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The White House delivered a blunt message to Americans stuck in Afghanistan on Friday: If you're not out by August 31 then we cannot guarantee we will get you out. During her regular briefing, President Biden's Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that diplomatic efforts were already under way to set up pathways to allow Americans and other nationals to leave after the deadline - but that would rely on working with the Taliban.

'Obviously we need to figure out the operational mechanisms,' she said.


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nivek

As Above So Below
'Obviously we need to figure out the operational mechanisms,' she said.

Total incompetence, figure out operational mechanisms now?...That should have been all sorted out months ago...

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nivek

As Above So Below
New terror threat alert...

State Department issues another security alert for Kabul airport

All US citizens at Kabul airport urged to 'leave immediately' as officials fear attack is 'likely'. The latest security alert followed Thursday's deadly suicide bombing attacks. The Biden administration warned earlier Friday another attack at the airport is considered "likely." "Because of security threats at the Kabul airport, we continue to advise U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates," the alert said. "U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the New Ministry of Interior gate now should leave immediately."

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nivek

As Above So Below
US airstrike targets ISIS in Afghanistan in retaliation for deadly Kabul airport attack that killed 13 American troops and 170 Afghans

The Pentagon has launched a drone strike in the Islamic State's stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, killing a man believed to be involved in planning Thursday's Kabul airport bombing.

The drone hit an ISIS-K member in Nangahar province, U.S. Central Command said. U.S. official told Reuters the strike was approved by President Joe Biden.

The retaliation came less than 48 hours after a devastating suicide bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 170 Afghans and 13 American service members at the Kabul airport. The strike killed one individual, and spokesman Navy Capt. William Urban said they knew of no civilian casualties.

US military 'conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner,' Urban said. 'The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties.'

It wasn't clear if that individual was involved specifically in the Thursday suicide blast outside the gates of the Kabul airport, where crowds of Afghans were desperately trying to get in as part of the ongoing evacuation from the country after the Taliban's rapid takeover.

The airstrike fulfilled a vow Biden made to the nation Thursday when he said the perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. 'We will hunt you down and make you pay,' he said.

Pentagon leaders told reporters on Friday that they were prepared for whatever retaliatory action the president ordered. 'We have options there right now,' said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

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nivek

As Above So Below

nivek

As Above So Below
 

nivek

As Above So Below
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Britain pulls the plug on Kabul airlift: UK will start getting soldiers out of Airport as Boris tells of his 'great regret' at leaving 150 Brits and 1,100 Afghans behind despite fears they will become Taliban hostages

Britain has started to withdraw its soldiers and diplomats from Afghanistan, with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) saying the UK's ability to process more civilian evacuations from Afghanistan will now be 'extremely reduced' - meaning as many as 1,250 people, including up to 150 UK nationals, could be left behind.

On Friday night, the MoD said that that 14,543 people had now been extracted from Kabul since August 13, a mix of Afghan and British nationals, and that now the focus would turn to getting diplomats and service personnel out.

Some 8,000 of those were Afghans and their families under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme, which applies to those who helped the UK and are at risk of persecution by the Taliban.

But the announcement followed warnings that Britain risks the ‘biggest hostage crisis in its history’ by leaving 1,000 Afghan allies to the mercy of the Taliban and Isis-K. The chilling warning was issued last night as Boris Johnson admitted he felt a ‘great sense of regret’ about the many hundreds that UK forces had been unable to evacuate from Kabul.

Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs committee, said the fact people would be left behind filled him with 'anger and shame' and warned 'we may find ourselves with the biggest hostage crisis the UK has ever seen.'

‘Quite rightly, British citizens and entitled persons are literally in fear of their lives right now.’


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nivek

As Above So Below
Taliban says US 'should have informed' them about retaliatory drone strike against ISIS-K that killed two and left one wounded: Militants seal off airport and Pentagon says new threats are 'real and very dynamic'

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The Pentagon has said that two ISIS-K targets had been killed and one wounded in the drone strike responding to the suicide attack in Kabul, after earlier confirming only one kill. The two killed targets were 'high profile' and involved in planning the airport attack that killed 13 US troops and 170 Afghans, but were not senior members of ISIS-K, Army Major Gen. William D. 'Hank' Taylor said at a Pentagon briefing on Saturday. The Pentagon described the two killed targets as a 'planner' and 'facilitator' of ISIS-K plots who were involved in planning additional future attacks in Kabul, but declined to name them. 'They lost a planner and they lost a facilitator and got one wounded. The fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the Earth, that's a good thing,' said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Another defense official told CNN that the strike on Friday only took place after surveillance on the compound confirmed the target's wife and children had left.

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nivek

As Above So Below
I think this is a ridiculous claim, I don't believe that Americans would want to stay there under Taliban rule...

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State Department claims hundreds of Americans might choose to STAY in Afghanistan

Several hundred American decisions are yet to decide whether to leave Afghanistan, the State Department said on Friday - despite the deadline for U.S. military withdrawal being only four days away. Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, said that some people were changing their minds every time they were asked, as they agonized over their decision.

He said that since August 14 – the day before Kabul fell to the Taliban – at least 5,100 American citizens have been evacuated, including 300 in the previous 24 hours. 'There are approximately 500 American citizens we are currently working with who want to leave and with whom we are communicating directly to facilitate their evacuations,' Price said.

'We are communicating with several hundred American citizens who have not yet determined whether they want to leave for various reasons.' Some were weighing up leaving behind homes and relatives, while others thought about the long-term implications for their safety.


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wwkirk

Divine
I think this is a ridiculous claim, I don't believe that Americans would want to stay there under Taliban rule...

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State Department claims hundreds of Americans might choose to STAY in Afghanistan

Several hundred American decisions are yet to decide whether to leave Afghanistan, the State Department said on Friday - despite the deadline for U.S. military withdrawal being only four days away. Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, said that some people were changing their minds every time they were asked, as they agonized over their decision.

He said that since August 14 – the day before Kabul fell to the Taliban – at least 5,100 American citizens have been evacuated, including 300 in the previous 24 hours. 'There are approximately 500 American citizens we are currently working with who want to leave and with whom we are communicating directly to facilitate their evacuations,' Price said.

'We are communicating with several hundred American citizens who have not yet determined whether they want to leave for various reasons.' Some were weighing up leaving behind homes and relatives, while others thought about the long-term implications for their safety.


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Both a ridiculous and an unethical thing to say.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Exhausted British soldiers are pictured on their flight out of Kabul - as Boris claims UK 'will return' to the country amid strain on relationship with Biden after 150 Brits and 1,000 Afghans were left behind



The UK started to pull its last troops out of Afghanistan on Saturday after the country's final civilian evacuation flight took off from Kabul airport, bringing to a close the British rescue mission and leaving behind up to 150 Britons and more than 1,000 Afghans who are now under Taliban rule. Video and pictures from inside military aircraft shared online by The Parachute Regiment on Saturday showed British troops leaving the Afghan capital, and the Ministry of Defence told the MailOnline that soldiers were in the process of being withdrawn. Boris Johnson last night pledged to return to Afghanistan when it is safe to do so – as the final UK evacuation flights took off from Kabul airport.

In a bid to put a positive gloss on Britain’s hasty retreat, the Prime Minister vowed to ‘use all the diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal to preserve the gains of the last 20 years’. Government sources insisted Britain’s absence from the war-ravaged country was only temporary. US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his forces by the end of the month left Mr Johnson with no alternative but to follow suit – putting the so-called ‘special relationship’ under strain and prompting angry Tory MPs to question Mr Biden’s suitability for the White House. Operation Pitting, the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, airlifted more than 15,000 people in a fortnight on more than 100 RAF flights. It included 5,000 British nationals and their families and more than 8,000 Afghan former UK staff and their relatives. Around 2,200 children were evacuated, the youngest just a day old. Afghan ‘sleeper’ agents who fed intelligence to MI6, including information about the suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport last week, have also been whisked to safety.


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nivek

As Above So Below
He ran a rescue, with a staff including vets, so they are not really his pets. Despite what he may think, there are too many in this country who also think that his animals should be a British government priority.

That guy is a real piece of work, the animals should have stayed in Afghanistan...

Kabul animal rescuer Pen Farthing is accused of 'costing lives' as recording reveals his foul-mouthed rant threatening to 'f***ing destroy' an MoD official in the middle of Afghanistan airlift

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nivek

As Above So Below

This is difficult thing to hear about and read, no one should have been left behind, this isn't Britain's fault, but still, people are being left behind in enemy territory through no fault of their own and they may never come home again...We should have never let Kabul fall to the barbarians before getting everyone out, at the very least Kabul should have been held safe until August 31st...

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nivek

As Above So Below
Many did get out safely, the military personnel on the ground performed the rescue work with honour...

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Skipping to freedom: Young Afghan girl celebrates escaping the Taliban by bounding across the tarmac after landing safely on evacuation flight in Belgium

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The little girl seemed to be jumping for joy after landing safely at Melsbroek military air base outside Brussels, Belgium.

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