Victor J. Blue/The New York Times/Redux
Updated 6:50 PM ET, Thu August 26, 2021
Victor J. Blue/The New York Times/Redux
At least two suicide bombs went off Thursday at a busy gathering area outside the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Afghan civilians and US service members were killed in the attack.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport has been the epicenter of a massive evacuation operation in the days since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan. Over the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the airport by the US military and NATO allies.
US officials believe ISIS-K, the ISIS branch that rivals the Taliban in Afghanistan, was likely behind Thursday’s attack. President Joe Biden revealed that he has ordered military commanders “to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities.”
“We will respond with force and precision in our time, in a place we choose in a manner of our choosing,” he said, declining to give specifics on timing.
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